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NEW   FRANCE   AND 
NEW   ENGLAND 

By  JOHN  FISKE 

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NEW  FRANCE  AND 
NEW  ENGLAND 

BY  JOHN  FISKE 


ILLUSTRATED   WITH 

PORTRAITS,    MAPS,   FACSIMILES 

CONTEMPORARY   VIEWS,    PRINTS,    AND 

OTHER    HISTORIC    MATERIALS 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON,   MIFFLIN    AND    COMPANY 

(Cbe  fiibersi&c  j^ress,  Cambriboe 

M  DCCCC  IV 


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CO^YRfGfif    I$0^    BY  'ABBY*  M\  *FT^£e,  'EXECUTRIX 

COPYRIGHT    I904    BY    HOUGHTON,   MIFFLIN    &   CO. 

ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


GIFT  OB* 
-AS.  Morrison 


PREFACE 


In  selecting  the  illustrations  for  the  series  of  which  this 
is  the  last  volume  to  be  issued,  nothing  has  been  admitted 
for  the  mere  purpose  of  embellishment ;  but  the  historical 
societies,  libraries,  and  private  collections  in  this  country 
and  Europe  have  been  searched  for  contemporary  material 
in  the  form  of  historical  pictures,  portraits,  original  manu- 
scripts, maps,  and  other  documents,  much  of  which  has 
never  before  been  published.  The  attempt  has  been  made 
to  use  only  those  illustrations  the  source  and  authenticity 
of  which  have  been  established  beyond  doubt.  This  infor- 
mation is  given  in  the  notes  on  the  illustrations,  but  special 
thanks  are  due  to  Wilberforce  Eames  of  the  New  York  Public 
Library  for  his  unfailing  courtesy,  as  well  as  to  the  librarians 
of  most  of  the  important  historical  societies  and  libraries  in 
the  country,  and  to  numerous  gentlemen  already  mentioned 
in  the  other  volumes.  Among  the  private  collections  to 
which  credit  has  been  given,  that  of  Charles  P.  Greenough 
of  Boston  deserves  particular  mention  in  connection  with 
the  rare  manuscripts  and  autographs  used  in  this  volume. 

Boston,  October,  1904. 


M113897 


PUBLISHERS'   NOTE 


The  place  of  the  present  volume  in  the  series  of  Mr. 
Fiske's  books  on  American  history  may  best  be  indicated  by 
a  few  words  from  his  preface  to  "  The  Dutch  and  Quaker 
Colonies  in  America."  That  work,  it  will  be  remembered, 
comes  next  in  order  after  "  The  Beginnings  of  New  Eng- 
land," and  in  describing  its  scope  Mr.  Fiske  remarks  :  "  It 
is  my  purpose,  in  my  next  book,  to  deal  with  the  rise  and 
fall  of  New  France,  and  the  development  of  the  English 
colonies  as  influenced  by  the  prolonged  struggle  with  that 
troublesome  and  dangerous  neighbour.  With  this  end  in 
view,  the  history  of  New  England  must  be  taken  up  where 
the  earlier  book  dropped  it,  and  the  history  of  New  York 
resumed  at  about  the  same  time,  while  by  degrees  we  shall 
find  the  histories  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  colonies  to  the 
south  of  it  swept  into  the  main  stream  of  Continental  his- 
tory. That  book  will  come  down  to  the  year  1765,  which 
witnessed  the  ringing  out  of  the  old  and  the  ringing  in  of 
the  new,  —  the  one  with  Pontiac's  War,  the  other  with  the 
Stamp  Act.  I  hope  to  have  it  ready  in  about  two  years 
from  now."     This  preface  bears  the  date  of  Mayday,  1899. 

It  will  be  seen  that  "  New  France  and  New  England  " 
completes  the  story  of  the  settlement  and  development  of  the 
colonies  up  to  the  point  where  Mr.  Fiske's  "  American  Rev- 
olution "  has  already  taken  up  the  narrative.     It  therefore 


vi  PUBLISHERS'  NOTE 

gives  a  final  unity  to  the  sequence  of  remarkable  volumes 
which  he  has  devoted  to  American  history. 

The  lamented  death  of  the  brilliant  author  prevented  him 
from  giving  the  final  touches  to  his  work.  Most  of  the  ma- 
terial for  it  was  delivered  as  lectures  before  the  Lowell 
Institute  during  the  last  winter  of  his  life  ;  but  only  the  first 
two  chapters  received  his  definite  revision  for  the  press. 
The  third  chapter  was  unfinished,  but  has  been  completed 
by  a  few  pages,  enclosed  in  brackets,  and  prepared  in  ac- 
cordance with  Mr.  Fiske's  own  memoranda  indicating  what 
incidents  he  proposed  to  include  in  the  remaining  para- 
graphs. The  other  chapters  were  in  the  form  of  carefully 
prepared  lectures,  but  were  not  equipped  with  the  side-notes 
and  annotations  calling  attention  to  authorities,  such  as  Mr. 
Fiske  supplied  freely  in  his  "  Discovery  of  America "  and 
other  volumes.  From  the  third  chapter  onward,  it  has  been 
thought  best  to  provide  such  topical  notes  and  references 
as  may  prove  helpful  to  the  reader.  These  notes  are  en- 
closed in  brackets. 

The  text  of  all  the  chapters  has  been  printed  as  it  left  his 
hand.  Though  he  doubtless  would  have  touched  it  here  and 
there  either  for  adornment  or  for  a  more  exact  precision  of 
detail,  it  will  on  that  account  possess  no  less  interest  for  the 
readers  of  that  notable  series  of  historical  writings  to  which 
this  volume  now  gives  the  desired  continuity  and  unity. 

4  Park  Street,  Boston,  Autumn,  1902. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I 


FROM   CARTIER   TO   CHAMPLAIN 


Norman  sailors 

On  the  coast  of  Africa 

Breton  ships  on  the  Banks 

Alleged  discovery  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence 

The  Portuguese  voyages  to  North  America 

Verrazano 

Francis  I.  and  the  demarcation  line 

Verrazano's  purpose 

The  Sea  of  Verrazano 

Death  of  Verrazano 

Jacques  Cartier 

The  exploration  of  the  St.  Lawrence 

The  name  "  Canada  " 

Hochelaga 

An  Indian  trick 
Cartier  arrives  at  Hochelaga 
Hochelaga  a  typical  Iroquois  town 
The  name  "  Montreal  " 
Distresses  of  the  winter    . 

Indian  tales 

Roberval 

Cartier's  voyage,  1541 

Jean  Allefonsce  tries  to  explore  the  Sea  of  Verrazano 
Errors  in  regard  to  the  voyage  of  Allefonsce 
The  true  direction  of  Allefonsce's  voyage 

Allefonsce  visits  the  Hudson 

The  character  of  Roberval 

The  romance  of  Roberval's  niece  .         . 

Suspension  of  French  exploration     .... 

Ribaut  in  Florida 

Importance  of  Dieppe  in  the  traffic  of  the  sea 


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Vlll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    II 


THE   BEGINNINGS    OF   QUEBEC 


Voyage  of  the  Marquis  de  la  Roche 

Pontgrave  and  Chauvin  secure  a  monopoly  of  the  fur-trade 

De  Chastes  succeeds  Chauvin 

The  early  life  of  Champlain 

Champlain  in  the  West  Indies 

Champlain"s  first  voyage  to  Canada 

The  disappearance  of  the  Iroquois  village  of  Hochelaga 

The  Iroquois  displaced  by  the  Algonquins 

The  Iroquois  Confederacy    . 

Outlying  tribes  of  Iroquois 

Designs  of  the  Sieur  de  Monts 

Homeric  quarrels 

Occupation  of  Acadia    .... 
Founding  of  Port  Royal,  later  Annapolis 
Champlain  explores  the  New  England  coast 
A  second  exploration  of  the  Massachusetts  coast 

A  picturesque  welcome 

The  Knightly  Order  of  Good  Times 

Collapse  of  de  Monts'  monopoly  .... 

Champlain  turns  his  attention  to  Canada 

The  expedition  of  1608  ..... 

Quebec  founded 

Treachery  foiled     ....... 

The  first  winter  at  Quebec        .... 

Friendship  with  the  Indians  the  condition  of  successful  exploration 
This  condition  determines  the  subsequent  French  policy     . 
Character  of  the  Indians  of  Canada 
Champlain  allies  himself  to  the  Ottawas  and  Hurons  . 

A  war  party 

Consultation  of  departed  heroes 

Lake  Champlain 

War  dances 

The  Mohawks  panic-stricken  by  firearms 
The  first  battle  of  Ticonderoga  sows  the  seed  of  deadly  hostility 
between  the  French  and  the  Iroquois 


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CONTENTS 


a 


CHAPTER    III 


THE   LORDS   OF   ACADIA.  —  LATER   HISTORY    OF   CHAMPLAIN 


Poutrincourt  returns  to  Port  Royal,  1610 

Remoter  consequences  of  the  death  of  Henry  IV. 

The  far-reaching  plans  of  the  Jesuits 

They  secure  an  interest  in  Acadia 

Madame  de  Guercheville  obtains  from  Louis  XIII.  a  grant  of  the 

coast  from  Acadia  to  Florida        .... 
La  Saussaye  in  Frenchman's  Bay 
The  French  captured  by  Argall        .... 

ArgalFs  trick 

Argall  returns  and  burns  Port  Royal 

Champlain  helps  in  the  destruction  of  an  attacking  party  of  Iroquois 

Beginnings  of  Montreal 

The  Count  of  Soissons  and  the  Prince  of  Conde  succeed  Monts 

A  traveller's  tale 

Champlain  among  the  Ottawas,  1613    . 
Vignau"s  imposture  discovered         .... 
Champlain  returns  from  France  with  the  Recollets 
Le  Caron  reaches  Lake  Huron  .... 

The  attack  on  the  Iroquois 

Champlain's  military  engines 

Rivalry  of  interests 

The  coming  of  the  Jesuits 

The  One  Hundred  Associates       .... 

Religious  uniformity 

The  capture  of  Quebec  by  the  English 

Champlain's  last  days 

James  I.  grants  Acadia  to  Sir  William  Alexander 
Claude  and  Charles  de  la  Tour         .... 
Legend  of  La  Tour's  fidelity  to  France 

La  Tour  and  D'Aunay 

Death  of  D'Aunay 

La  Tour  gives  place  to  Sir  Thomas  Temple     . 


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CHAPTER   IV 

WILDERNESS   AND    EMPIRE 


Jean  Nicollet     .... 
Nicollet  explores  Lake  Michigan 
Father  Jogues  near  Lake  Superior 


91 
9i 
93 


CONTENTS 


Radisson  and  Groseilliers 

Accession  of  Louis  XIV.  .         . 

His  changes  in  Canadian  administration 
Two  expeditions  against  the  Iroquois,  1666     . 
Contrasts  between  New  France  and  New  England 
The  French  trading  route  to  the  Northwest     . 

The  coureurs  de  bois 

Father  Allouez  on  the  Wisconsin     . 

The  French  take  possession  of  the  Northwest     . 

Father  Allouez  depicts  the  greatness  of  Louis  XIV 

Early  life  of  La  Salle 

La  Salle  comes  to  Canada         . 

La  Salle  hears  of  the  Ohio  and  resolves  to  explore 

His  expedition  combined  with  a  mission  exploration  of  the 

cians 

The  way  blocked  by  the  Senecas 

Meeting  with  Joliet 

La  Salle  parts  from  the  Sulpicians 
La  Salle  explores  the  Ohio 
Frontenac  succeeds  Courcelles 
Character  of  Frontenac    . 
Joliet  chosen  to  explore  the  Misissippi 

Marquette 

Joliet  and  Marquette  reach  the  Mississippi 
They  pass  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri 

The  return 

La  Salle's  great  designs     .... 
The  Mississippi  valley  to  be  occupied  . 
Difficulty  of  carrying  out  so  vast  a  plan 
La  Salle's  privileges  arouse  opposition 
Fort  Frontenac  granted  to  La  Salle 
La  Salle  builds  the  Griffin    . 

Henri  de  Tonty 

Louis  Hennepin 

The  voyage  of  the  Griffin 

La  Salle's  terrible  winter  journey 

Fresh  disasters         ..... 

La  Salle  goes  to  rescue  Tonty 

Destruction  of  the  Illinois  village  by  the  Iroquois 

La  Salle's  winter  voyage  down  the  Mississippi    . 

La  Salle  returns  to  France        .... 

Failure  of  the  Mississippi  expedition    . 

La  Salle's  death 


Sulpi- 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  V 


WITCHCRAFT  IN  SALEM  VILLAGE 


Louis  XIV.  commutes  the  sentence  of  death  imposed  upon   al- 
leged witches     - 

The  parliament  of  Normandy  protests     . 
The  belief  in  witchcraft  universal 

Vitality  of  the  belief 

Cause  of  the  final  decay  of  the  belief  . 

Rise  of  physical  science 

An  English  witch  trial  before  Sir  Matthew  Hale 

Grotesque  evidence 

Indications  of  shamming  ignored 

Sir  Matthew  Hale  affirms  the  reality  of  witchcraft 

Revival  of  witchcraft  superstition .... 

The  Hammer  of  Witches  .... 

King  James  on  the  reality  of  witchcraft 

The  delusion  increases  with  the  rise  of  the  Puritan  party  to  power 

Last  executions  for  witchcraft 

Primitive  America  regarded  as  a  domain  of  the  Devil 
The  first  victim  of  the  witchcraft  delusion  in  New  England 
The  case  of  Mrs.  Hibbins      .... 
A  victim  of  malice  acting  through  superstition 

A  sensible  jury 

The  Goodwin  children 

Cotton  Mather 

His  character 

His*-  courage  in  advocating  inoculation . 
Views  of  Calef  and  Upham       .... 

Mr.  W.  F.  Poole 

Cotton  Mather  and  the  Goodwin  case 
Cotton  Mather  and  the  Goodwin  girl  . 

Tests  of  bewitchment 

Mather  publishes  an  account  of  this  case 
Cotton  Mather's  book  and  the  Salem  troubles 
Gloomy  outlook  in  1692  .... 

Salem  Village 

Samuel  Parris,  the  pastor      .... 
Parish  troubles  in  Salem  Village 
Mr.  Parris's  coloured  servants 
The  "  afflicted  children  "   . 

Mistress  Ann  Putnam 

Beginnings  of  the  troubles         .... 


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CONTENTS 


Physicians  and  clergymen  called  in 

The  trial  of  Sarah  Good 

The  accusation  of  Martha  Corey  and  Rebecca  Nurse 

Character  of  Martha  Corey 

Rebecca  Nurse 

A  village  feud  ...... 

The  examination  of  Rebecca  Nurse     . 

Deodat  Lawson         . 

The  spread  of  the  delusion    . 

Case  of  personal  malice    .         .         . 

The  Rev.  George  Burroughs 

The  special  court  erected 

The  advice  of  the  ministers  . 

Spectral  evidence 

The  jury  acquit  Rebecca  Nurse    . 

The  court  sends  them  back 

The  case  of  Mary  Easty 

Mary  Easty  torn  from  her  home  at  midnight 

Doubt  perilous 

Peine  forte  et  dure    .         .         .         . 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Noyes     .... 

The  petition  of  Mary  Easty 

Her  warning ...... 

Sudden  collapse  of  the  trials 

Reaction  follows  the  intense  strain 
The  accusers  aim  too  high        .... 
Accusers  threatened  with  a  suit  for  damages 
The  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  abolished     . 

Cotton  Mather 

Explanation  of  Mather's  speech 
Judge  Sewell's  public  acknowledgment  of  wrong 
Ann  Putnam's  confession  .... 

Were  the  accusers  misled  or  shamming  ?     . 

Evidences  of  collusion 

Was  there  a  deliberate  conspiracy  ? 
Contagion  of  hysterical  emotion 
Psychology  of  hallucinations 

Playing  with  fire 

The  evils  of  publicity  in  the  examinations    . 
Explanation  of  Mrs.  Putnam's  part  . 
She  exercised  hypnotic  control  over  the  children 
The  case  of  Salem  Village  helps  one  to  realize  the  terrors  of  th 
witchcraft  delusion  in  the  past      ...... 


.  179 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE  GREAT  AWAKENING 

The  reaction  from  the  witchcraft  delusion  .         .         .         .181 

Rise  of  secular  opposition  to  the  theocracy  ....       182 

The  Halfway  Covenant     .         .         . 183 

The  South  Church 183 

The  opposition  to  the  theocracy  lays  the  foundation  of  Toryism  184 

The  new  charter  of  Massachusetts 184 

The  Brattle  Church  founded  1698 186 

Relaxation  of  conditions  of  membership -187 

Cotton  Mather's  alarm 187 

The  theocracy  helpless  under  the  new  charter         .         .        .         .188 

The  new  church  finally  recognized .188 

The  effort  to  get  a  new  charter  for  Harvard 188 

Governor  Bellomont  vetoes  a  test  act  for  college  officers  .  .  190 
Rise  of  liberalism  in  the  college        ........   190 

President  Increase  Mather  displaced 191 

Cotton  Mather's  indignation 191 

Governor  Dudley 191 

The  new  charter  for  Harvard  a  substantial  reenactment  of  that  of 

1650 192 

Conditions  in  Connecticut     ........       192 

New  Haven  annexed  to  Connecticut        .......  193 

Comparison  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut   .         .         .  193 

Causes  of  Connecticut  conservatism 194 

The  tendency  in  organizations  to  become  rigid  and  mechanical .  194 
The  instance  of  the  Cambridge  Platform,  1648  .  ,  .  -194 
Lack  of  a  party  of  opposition  in  Connecticut        .         .         .         .196 

The  Saybrook  Platform ,         .         .         .196 

The  platform  tends  to  assimilate  Congregationalism  to  Presbyte- 

rianism 197 

Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  change  places      .         .         .         .198 

The  founding  of  Yale  College 198 

The  conservative  tendencies  of  Connecticut  reinforced  by  the  col- 
lege      200 

State  of  religion  early  in  the  eighteenth  century       ....  200 

Rise  of  commercial  interests 201 

"  Stoddardeanism" 201 

Jonathan  Edwards 202 

Edward's  vein  of  mysticism 202 

His  emphasis  on  conversion 203 

Revivals 203 


XIV 


CONTENTS 


The  Revival  of  1734      .... 
George  Whitefield  invited  to  New  England 

Gilbert  Tennent 

James  Davenport 

Comparison  with  the  Antinomians 
Whitefield's  return  to  New  England 
Davenport  arrested  for  public  disturbance 
Last  days  of  Edwards       .... 
Results  of  the  Awakening     . 


204 
.  204 

206 
.  206 

206 
.  208 

209 
.  210 

212 


CHAPTER   VII 


XORRIDGEWOCK   AND    LOUISBURG 

The    "  irrepressible   conflict "   between    France   and   England   in 

America -213 

Acadia  finally  passes  to  England 213 

The  French  view  of  the  limits  of  Acadia 214 

The  Abenaki  tribes 214 

Sebastian  Rale 215 

The  Norridgewock  village 215 

The  country  between  the  Piscataqua  and  the  Kennebec         .         .216 

The  Indian  view  of  selling  land 216 

The  Indians  and  the  French 217 

Conference  between  Governor  Shute  and  the  Indians         .         .  217 

Baxter  and  Rale •         .         .         .217 

The  Indians  instigated  to  attack  the  English       ....  218 

Border  warfare 218 

Conflicts  between  the  governor  and  the  Assembly       .        .         .  220 

Shute  succeeded  by  Dummer 220 

Expeditions  against  the  Indians 221 

The  death  of  Father  Rale 221 

Extermination  of  the  Norridgewock  tribe 221 

Captain  Lovewell 222 

Lovewell's  fight 224 

The  death  of  Frye 224 

Louisburg 225 

The  project  to  capture  Louisburg     .......  226 

The  New  England  colonies  undertake  the  attack         .         .         .  227 

The  naval  force 228 

The  French  surprised 230 

The  Grand  Battery  abandoned  in  panic 232 

Capture  of  a  French  line-of-battle  ship 232 

Louisburg  surrendered  June  17,  1745        ......  233 

A  relic  of  Louisburg 233 


CONTENTS  xv 

CHAPTER   VIII 

BEGINNINGS    OF   THE   GREAT   WAR 

The  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle 234 

The  spread  of  the  English  westward 234 

The  Scotch-Irish 235 

The  pioneers  pass  the  Alleghanies 235 

This  advance  of  the  English  a  menace  to  the  French     .        .         .  236 
The  French  influence  with  the  Indians  declines  ....       236 

The  founding  of  Oswego  . 237 

Sir  William  Johnson 237 

English  traders  in  the  Ohio  valley 238 

Celoron  takes  possession  of  the  Ohio  valley  for  Louis  XV.,  1749  •       24° 

Celoron  among  the  Miamis 240 

The  Miamis  under  English  influence 242 

The  French  destroy  the  Miami  trading  village         ....  242 

The  Marquis  Duquesne 243 

The  French  expedition  of  1753 243 

The  Indians  between  two  fires 243 

A  chance  meeting 244 

Major  George  Washington  sent  to  warn  the  French    .         .         .       244 

The  French  boast  of  their  plans 246 

Governor  Dinwiddie  resolves  to  occupy  the  Gateway  of  the  West    246 

Duquesne  anticipates  the  English 247 

The  Virginia  expedition  to  Fort  Duquesne 248 

Washington  surprises  a  French  force 248 

Fort  Necessity 249 

The  battle  of  Fort  Necessity 249 

The  English  retreat 250 

Niggardliness  of  the  Provincial  Assemblies  ....       250 

The  defence  of  the  colonies  dependent  on  the  governors         .         .251 

The  need  of  a  union  of  the  colonies 252 

The  Albany  Congress 252 

Franklin's  plan  of  union  rejected 254 

England  and  France  send  troops  to  America,  1755  ....  255 

Capture  of  two  French  ships 256 

General  Braddock 256 

Indian  mode  of  fighting 257 

English  regulars  ill  prepared  for  such  tactics 257 

Braddock's  difficulties 258 

Braddock  should  have  landed  at  Philadelphia 258 

The  march 260 

A  detachment  sent  on  in  advance 260 


xvi  CONTENTS 

Beaujeu  sets  out  to  waylay  the  English 261 

Braddock's  precautions 261 

The  battle 262 

The  English  fall  before  unseen  foes 262 

Bravery  of  Braddock  and  Washington 264 

Braddock's  death 264 

Dunbar's  culpable  retreat .       264,  265 


CHAPTER    IX 


CROWN   POINT,    FORT    WILLIAM    HENRY,    AND   TICONDEROGA 

Governor  Shirley's  plan  of  campaign 266 

William  Johnson  to  attack  Crown  Point 268 

Character  of  Johnson's  army .  268 

Johnson  names  Lake  George 269 

Dieskau's  approach 269 

The  Indians  prefer  to  attack  the  camp 270 

The  English  scouting  party  routed 270 

271 
272 
273 
273 
273 
274 
274 
275 
276 
276 

277 
278 

279 

280 
280 
280 
281 
282 
282 
283 
283 
283 
284 
285 
286 


Dieskau  repulsed  and  captured  .  .  . 
Shirley's  expedition  against  Niagara  a  failure 
Desolation  on  the  frontier         ...... 

Opening  of  the  Seven  Years'  War 

England  and  Prussia  join  forces 

Montcalm 

Montcalm's  account  of  the  voyage  to  Canada 
Vaudreuil  not  gratified  by  Montcalm's  arrival 

Shirley  superseded 

The  Earl  of  Loudoun 

Loudoun  plans  to  attack  Ticonderoga      .... 

Fall  of  Oswego 

Montcalm's  capture  of  Oswego  impresses  the  Indians     . 
Loudoun's  expedition  against  Louisburg       .... 
Montcalm's  expedition  against  Fort  William  Henry 

Ferocity  of  Montcalm's  Indian  allies 

The  English  force  at  Fort  William  Henry  and  Fort  Edward 
Montcalm  invests  Fort  William  Henry         .... 
Surrender  of  the  forces  at  Fort  William  Henry 

The  Indians  uncontrollable 

The  massacre  of  prisoners 

William  Pitt 

Pitt's  hold  on  popular  confidence      ..... 

Pitt  recalls  Loudoun 

Lord  Howe 


CONTENTS 


The  expedition  against  Ticonderoga     . 

Lord  Howe's  adaptability  . 

The  English  scouting  party  lost  in  the  woods 

Death  of  Lord  Howe 

Montcalm's  defences 

Alternatives  open  to  Abercrombie    . 
Montcalm  saved  by  Abercrombie's  stupidity 

An  assault  ordered 

All  assaults  repulsed 

Abercrombie  ridiculed 


286 
287 
288 
289 
290 
293 
293 
294 
294 
295 


CHAPTER   X 


LOUISBURG,  FORT  DUQUESNE,  AND  THE  FALL  OF  QUEBEC 

Strategic  points  in  the  contest      .... 

Louisburg 

The  English  expedition  against  Louisburg 
General  Wolfe  effects  a  landing       .... 
The  harbour  batteries  secured  or  reduced  by  the  Englis 
Gradual  destruction  of  the  French  fleet  . 

Surrender  of  Louisburg 

Wolfe  returns  to  England 

Bradstreet's  expedition  against  Fort  Frontenac  . 

Fort  Frontenac  taken,  August  27     . 

The  loss  of  Fort  Frontenac  weakens  Fort  Duquesne 

General  John  Forbes 

The  expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne 

The  choice  of  routes 

Forbes's  method  of  advance 

The  slow  progress  of  the  march  favourable  to  success 
Major  Grant's  disastrous  reconnoissance 
Christian  Frederic  Post  wins  over  the  Indians 
The  French  evacuate  Fort  Duquesne  .... 
Pitt  resolved  to  drive  the  French  from  Canada 
Preparations  for  the  campaign  of  1759 
Weak  points  of  eighteenth  century  strategy     . 
General  Amherst's  plan  of  campaign    .... 
General  Prideaux's  expedition  against  Fort  Niagara 

Fall  of  Fort  Niagara 

General  Amherst  marches  against  Ticonderoga 
Ticonderoga  deserted  and  blown  up     . 

Amherst's  ineffective  activity 

Quebec 


296 

297 
298 
298 
300 
300 
300 
301 
302 
302 
303 
304 
304 
305 
306 
306 
308 
309 
309 
310 
310 
310 
3ii 
3ii 
312 

3H 
314 
315 
316 


xviii  CONTENTS 

The  position  of  the  French  forces 316-318 

The  difficulties  which  confronted  Wolfe 318 

His  illness .         .         .         .       318 

Wolfe  plans  to  scale  the  heights       . 3^ 

Final  preparations         .         .         .         ....         .         .      321 

The  start ^21 

The  ascent "    .         .         .         .         .  322 

Complete  surprise  of  the  French 323 

The  battle 


324 

Death  of  Wolfe 324 

Death  of  Montcalm 326 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


James  Wolfe  {photogravure) Frontispiece 

From  the  original  painting  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery. 

Page 

Prince  Henry  of  Portugal 2 

Surnamed  the  navigator.     From  Major's  The  Discoveries  of  Prince  Henry, 

the  Navigator 

Francis  1 5 

From  the  original  painting  by  Titian  in  the  Louvre. 

Autograph  of  Verrazano    7 

From  Winsor's  America. 

Cartier's  Manor  House 11 

From  Relation  originate  du  voyage  de  Jacques  Cartier  au  Canada  en 
1534- 

Jacques  Cartier  {photogravure) facing    12 

From  the  original  painting  in  St.  Malo,  France.     Autograph  from  Win- 
sor's America. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Cartier's  "  A  shorte  and  briefe  narra- 
tion"     13 

The   first   publication  in   English  relating  entirely  to   Canada.      In   the 
Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Gastaldi's  Plan  of  Hochelaga 14 

From  Ramusio,  1556.    In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Cartier's  "Brief  Recit,"  1545     .    .         17 

Facsimile  from  original  in  British  Museum.    In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New 
York  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Allefonsce's  "Voyages,"  1559     ...     23 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Andre  Thevet 25 

From  Portraits  et  vies  des  hommes,  1584. 


xx  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Hunting  on  Snow-Shoes  in  Canada 27 

From  Thevet's  France  Ant arctique,  Paris,  1558.  In  the  Lenox  Collection, 
New  York  Public  Library.  Earliest  known  engraving  of  snow-shoes  in 
Canada. 

New  France 28 

From  Desceliers's  Mappemonde,  1546.  In  the  possession  of  Lord  Craw- 
ford.    From  a  facsimile  in  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Henry  IV 33 

After  an  engraving  by  Hendrik  Goltzius. 

Samuel  de  Champlain  {photogravure) facing    36 

After  the  Moncornet  portrait. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Champlain's  "  Des  Savvages,"  1604     .    37 

Champlain's  first  book  on  New  France.  In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New 
York  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Sieur  de  Mont's  "Commissions,"  1605     38 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Seneca-Iroquois  Long  House 41 

From  Morgan's  Houses  and  House-Life  of  the  American  Aborigines. 

Ground-Plan  of  Long  House 41 

From  the  same. 

Lescarbot's  Map  of  New  France,  1609 46 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Champlain's  Map  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  1632  .     .    48 

From  The  History  of  Canada  tinder  French  Regime. 

Champlain's  Plan  of  Plymouth  Harbour 49 

From  Champlain's  Voyage,  1613.  In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York 
Public  Library. 

Champlain's  Plan  of  the  Settlement  at  Port  Royal   .  50 

From  the  same. 

The  Fortress  at  Port  Royal 51 

From  the  same. 

Gravestone  at  Port  Royal 52 

The  oldest  known  European  monument  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  North 
America.  It  was  discovered  in  1827  by  Prof.  C.  T.  Jackson  on  Goat  Island 
in  Annapolis  Basin,  and  given  to  Thomas  Haliburton,  Esq.  The  masonic 
emblem  of  the  square  and  compass  denotes  that  the  person  belonged  to  that 
fraternity. 

From  the  collection  of  the  late  Francis  Parkman. 

Sully 53 

After  the  engraving  by  Gerard  Edelinck. 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS  xxi 

Champlain's  Plan  of  Quebec,  1608 55 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

The  Fort  and  Buildings  at  Quebec,  1608 57 

From  Champlain's  Voyages,  1613.     In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York 
Public  Library. 

Defeat  of  the  Iroquois  at  Lake  Champlain,  1609   ...    63 

From  the  same. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Lescarbot's  "La  Conversion,"  1610    .    67 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Bertrand's  "  Lettre  Missive,"  1610    .    68 

From  the  same. 

Antoinette,  Marchioness  of  Guercheville 69 

From  a  crayon  attributed  to  Quesnel. 

Autograph  of  Samuel  Argall 71 

From  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States. 

Autograph  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale 71 

From  the  same. 

Champlain's  Fight  with  the  Indians,  1610 73 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Champlain's  Plan  of  Port  Royal 75 

From  the  same. 

View  of  Iroquois  Village  and  Champlain  Tower    ...    80 

From  Champlain's   Voyage,  1618.     In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York 
Public  Library. 

Facsimile  Title  of  L'Allemant's  "Lettre,"  1627  ....    81 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Champlain's  "  Les  Voyages,"  1632  .     .    85 

From  the  same. 

Sir  William  Alexander 87 

From  Winsor's  America. 

Facsimile  of  the  Handwriting  of  Robert  Sedgwick    .    .    89 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

Father  Jogues 93 

Founder  of  the  Iroquois  Mission.     In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York 
Public  Library. 

Autograph  of  Marquis  de  Tracy -    94 

From  Winsor's  America. 


xxii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Jean  Baptiste  Talon 95 

After  the  painting  in  the  Hotel  Dieu,  Quebec. 

COUREUR   DE    BOIS 98 

From  Winsor's  America. 

Autograph  of  Claude  Allouez ioo 

From  Winsor's  America. 

Robert  Cavelier,  Sieur  de  La  Salle  {photogravure)  facing   102 

From  a  photograph  in  the  collection  of  the  late  Francis  Parkman. 

Autograph  of  Frontenac 105 

From  Winsor's  America. 

Autograph  of  Louis  Joliet 106 

From  Ernest  Paynon's  Louis  Joliet,  Quebec,  1902.    In  the  Lenox  Collec- 
tion, New  York  Public  Library. 

Joliet's  Map  of  New  France,  1673-1674 106 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  of  Marquette's  Handwriting 107 

From  a  photograph  in  the  collection  of  the  late  Francis  Parkman. 

Jacques  Marquette  {photogravure) facing  108 

From  a  photograph  kindly  loaned  by  R.  G.  Thwaites  of  an  oil  portrait  dis- 
covered in  Montreal  in  1897.     Autograph  from  Winsor's  America. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Tonty's  "Dernieres  Decouvertes"    .  109 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Tonty's  "An  Account  of" no 

From  the  same. 

Thevenot's  Map  of  Marquette's  Discoveries 112 

From  the  same. 
Plan  of  Fort  Frontenac,  1685 114 

From  Faillon's  Histoire  de  la  Colonie  Francaise.     In  the  Lenox  Collec- 
tion, New  York  Public  Library. 

Autograph  of  Tonty 115 

From  Winsor's  America. 

Hennepin's  First  View  of  Niagara  Falls 117 

From  Hennepin's  Nouvelle  Decouverte,  Utrecht,  1697.    In  the  Lenox  Col- 
lection, New  York  Public  Library. 

Louis  XIV 122 

After  the  painting  by  Gueslin. 

Facsimile  Title  of  "A  Tryal  of  Witches,"  1664.     .     .     .125 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS  xxiii 

Sir  Matthew  Hale 127 

From  the  painting  in  the  National   Portrait  Gallery.     Autograph  from 
Memoirs  of  Life  and  Character  of  Sir  Matthew  Hale. 

Facsimile  of  Verdict  and  Death-Warrant  of  Ann  Hib- 
bins,  May,  1656 133 

From  the  original  MS.  in  the  Massachusetts  State  Library. 

Autograph  of  John  Norton 134 

From  Winsor's  America. 

Cotton  Mather  {photogravure) facing  136 

From  the   painting   by  Pelham,  in   the  American  Antiquarian  Society, 
Worcester,  Massachusetts.     Autograph  from  Winsor's  America. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Cotton  Mather's  "  Memorable  Provi- 
dences," 1689 139 

In  the  Boston  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  of  Examination  of  Tituba,  1692 143 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Judge  Corwin  House,  Salem  (the  So-called  Witch  House)  145 

From  a  photograph  in  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  Mass. 

Facsimile    of   Order  to   arrest  Parties   charged    with 
Witchcraft,  1692 146 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

Facsimile   of   Letter  of  Robert  Calef  to  Lord  Bello- 
mont,  affixed  to  a  copy  of  his  book i47 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  of  Deposition  of   Mrs.  Ann  Putnam  and   her 
Daughter   Ann,    made   May   31,    1692,   before  Judges 

Hathorne  and  Corwin 149 

In  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  Massachusetts. 

Title  of  Lawson's  "A  Brief  and  True  Narrative"    .     .151 

From  the  Library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

The  Jacobs  House,  Salem  Village,  now  Danvers     .     .    .153 

From  a  photograph  in  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  Massachusetts. 

Autograph  of  William  Phips 154 

From  Winsor's  America. 

William  Stoughton --.  -1    .     .     .155 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough      Autograph  from  the  same. 

The  Nourse  House,  Salem 159 

Said  to  have  been  built  in  1636.     From  a  photograph  in  the  Essex  Insti- 
tute, Salem,  Massachusetts. 


xxiv  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Part  of  Gallows  Hill,  Salem T6i 

From  a  photograph  in  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  Massachusetts. 

Facsimile  of  End  of  Examination  of  Martha  Corey  in 
the  Handwriting  of  Rev.  Samuel  Parris 163 

In  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  Massachusetts. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Hale's  "A  Modest  Enquiry,"  1702     .  167 

One  of  the  rarest  of  the  books  relating  to  the  New  England  Witchcraft 
delusion.     In  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  Massachusetts. 

Autograph  of  Samuel  Willard ^9 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

Facsimile  Title  of   Increase   Mather's  "Cases  of  Con- 
science," 1693 iyi 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Cotton  Mather's  "The  Wonders  of 
the  Invisible  World,"  1693 172 

From  the  same. 

Samuel  Sewall 174 

From  Winsor's  America.     Autograph  from  the  same. 

Autograph  of  William  Brattle 185 

From  the  Records  of  the  First  Parish  Church,  Cambridge. 

Autograph  of  Thomas  Brattle 185 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

Benjamin  Colman 186 

From  the  original  painting  by  Smybert  in  Memorial  Hall,  Harvard  Uni- 
versity. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Turell's  "The  Life  and  Character 
of  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Colman" 189 

The  autographs  Seth  Storer  of  Watertown  and  Charles  Lowell  are  inter- 
esting. Quincy  calls  this  the  best  biography  of  a  Massachusetts  man  written 
in  provincial  times.     In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Autograph  of  John  Leverett 192 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Saybrook  Platform,  1709 195 

This  is  the  first  book  printed  in  Connecticut.  In  the  Lenox  Collection, 
New  York  Public  Library. 

Elihu  Yale 199 

From  the  original  painting  in  Yale  University. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xxv 

Facsimile  of  Letter  of  Elihu  Yale,  Founder  of  Yale 
College,  to  Richard  Jones,  Wekham 200 

This  is  the  only  known  Elihu  Yale  letter  in  this  country.  From  the  col- 
lection of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

Jonathan  Edwards  {photogravure) facing  202 

From  the  original  painting  recently  in  the  possession  of  the  late  Mr.  Eugene 
Edwards  of  Stonington,  Conn. 

George  Whitefield 205 

From  Winsor's  America. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Edwards's  "A  Faithful  Narrative," 

1737 2°7 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Thomas  Prince 209 

From  the  painting  in  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester,  Mas- 
sachusetts. 

Signature  of  President  Holyoke  and  Fellows  of  Har- 
vard College 210 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

Facsimile  of  the  First  and  Last  Paragraph  of  a  Letter 
of  Jonathan  Edwards 211 

From  the  same. 

Facsimile  of  Title  Page  and  First  Page  of  Text  of  Father 
Rale's  Manuscript  Dictionary  of  the  Abenaki  Lan- 
guage    214 

This  Manuscript  was  taken  from  Rale's  dwelling  in  Norridgewock,  in  Jan- 
uary, 1722,  by  Col.  Thomas  Westbrook,  and  was  presented  by  Middlecott 
Cooke  to  the  Library  of  Harvard  University. 

Map  of  North  America 216 

From  Edward  Wells's  New  List  of  Maps,  London,  1698-1699. 

Autograph  of  Samuel  Shute 217 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

William  Dummer . .  219 

From  Winsor's  America.     Autograph  from  the  same. 

Autograph  of  Thomas  Westbrook 221 

From  the  same. 

Autograph  of  John  Lovewell 222 

From  the  same. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Symmes's  "  Lovewell  Lamented," 
1725 .  .    .  223 

From  the  library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


xxvi  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Autograph  of  William  Vaughan .  226 

From  Winsor's  America. 

William  Shirley  {photogravure) facing  227 

After  the  painting  by  T.  Hudson.     Autograph  in  the  Lenox  Collection, 
New  York  Public  Library. 

Autograph  of  William  Pepperell 227 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

Autograph  of  Roger  W7olcott 228 

From  the  collection  of  Roger  Wolcott,  Boston. 

Autograph  of  Peter  Warren 228 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

Facsimile  Title  of  Shirley's  Account  of  the  Louisburg 

Expedition 229 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Sir  William  Pepperell  {photogravure) facing  230 

From  the  painting  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Underhill  A.  Budd,  great- 
great-great-granddaughter  of  Sir  William  Pepperell. 

Facsimile  of  Pepperell's  Demand  for  the  Surrender  of 
Louisburg 231 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Map  of  Louisburg 232 

From  Mante's  History  of  the  Late  War. 

Louisburg  Cross 233 

From  the  original  in  Harvard  University. 

Oath  of  Allegiance  to  George  II 236 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

The  South  View  of  Oswego  on  Lake  Ontario 237 

From  Smith's  History  of  New  York,  London,  1757.    In  the  Lenox  Collec- 
tion, New  York  Public  Library. 

Map  showing  the  British   Colonies  and  Northern  New 

France,  1 750-1 760  {colored) 238 

Celoron  de  Bienville 239 

From  Winsor's  America. 

Facsimile  of  One  of  Celoron's  Plates,  1749 241 

From  a  photograph  of  the  original  in  the  possession  of  the  Virginia  His- 
torical Society. 

Autograph  of  Duquesne 243 

From  Winsor's  America. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS                          xxvii 
Autograph  of  Christopher  Gist 244 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  of  One  of  Washington's  Autograph  Surveys  .  244 

From  the  same. 
Facsimile  Title  of  Washington's  Journal 245 

His  first  published  book.     From  the  same. 

Autograph  of  Robert  Dinwiddie 246 

From  the  same. 

Plan  of  Fort  Duquesne 247 

From  a  set  of  plans  and  forts,  London,  1765.  In  the  Lenox  Collection, 
New  York  Public  Library. 

Facsimile  Autographs  of  the  Twenty-five   Members   of 
the  Congress  of  1754  at  Albany,  New  York  ....  252 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough.  The  autograph  of  Abram 
Barnes  is  from  the  collection  of  Elliot  Danforth  of  New  York,  that  of  Roger 
Wolcott  is  from  the  collection  of  Roger  Wolcott  of  Boston. 

Facsimile  of  Meshech  Weare's  Plan  of  Federation   .    .  253 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Autograph  of  Edward  Braddock 254 

From  the  same. 

Autograph  of  Vandreuil 254 

From  the  same. 

Richard,  Lord  Howe 255 

From  the  same. 
Autograph  and  Seal  of  Lord  Howe .  256 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

Benjamin  Franklin 259 

After  the  painting  by  Mason  Chamberlain  about  1760.  Painted  for  Col. 
Philip  Ludwell,  of  Virginia,  who  went  to  England  in  1760.  The  original 
next  went  to  Joshua  Bates  of  Boston,  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  his 
grandson,  Victor  van  de  Meyer,  London,  England. 

Plan  of  Braddock's  Defeat,  July  9,  1755 262 

From  Six  Plans,  London,  1758.  From  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York 
Public  Library. 

View  of  Braddock's  Battlefield 263 

From  the  painting  by  Frank  Weber,  in  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 

Robert  Monckton 266 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 


xxviii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facsimile  of  Letter  of  Robert  Monckton 267 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Autograph  of  Phineas  Lyman 268 

From  the  same. 
Plan  of  Battle  of  Lake  George,  Sept.  8,  1755 2^8 

From  the  same. 

Autograph  of  Dieskau 270 

From  the  same. 

Sir  William  Johnson  {photogravure) facing  272 

From  a  contemporary  English  folio  engraving  in  the  Lenox  Collection, 
New  York  Public  Library. 

Governor  Shirley's  Commission  to  Tawenoc,  1755     .     .    .  272 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Earl  of  Loudoun 277 

From  an  original  drawing  in  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Li- 
brary.    Autograph  from  the  same. 

Facsimile  of  Letter  from  Loudoun  to  Johnson,  1756  .    .  279 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Map  of  Lake  George 282 

From  Mante's  History  of  the  Late  War,  London,  1772. 

Autograph  of  William  Pitt 284 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst 285 

From  a  painting  by  Thomas  Gainsborough  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery. 
Autograph  in  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Autograph  of  James  Abercrombie 286 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Plan  of  Fort  at  Ticonderoga 287 

From  the  same. 

Autograph  of  Israel  Putnam 288 

From  the  same. 

Robert  Rogers 289 

From  the  same. 

Facsimile  of  Letter  of  Lord  Howe,  1756 290 

From  the  same. 

Facsimile  of  Rogers's  "Journals,"  1765 291 

From  the  same. 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xxix 

Facsimile  of  Letter  of  Robert  Rogers,  1756 292 

From  the  same. 

Admiral  Edward  Boscawen 299 

From  the  painting  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery. 

View  of  Louisburg  during  the  Siege,  1758 300 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Autograph  of  John  Bradstreet 301 

From  the  same. 

Fort  Frontenac 303 

From  Mcmoires  sur  Le  Canada.   In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Pub- 
lic Library. 

Autograph  of  John  Forbes 304 

From  Winsor's  America. 

Henry  Bouquet 305 

From  the  same. 

James  Grant 307 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough.     Autograph  from  the  same. 

Map  of  the  Siege  of  Quebec 310 

From  Miles's  History  of  Canada  under  the  French  Regime. 

Frederick  Haldimand 313 

From  Winsor's  America.     Autograph  from  the  collection  of  Charles  P. 
Greenough. 

Montcalm's  Headquarters 315 

From  a  print  in  the  collection  of  the  late  Francis  Parkman. 

View  of  the  Land-Place  above  the  Town  of  Quebec,  with 
a  Distant  View  of  the  Action,  Sept.  13,  1759  {photo- 
gravure)     facing  316 

From  an  engraving  in  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 
From  a  sketch  by  Capt.  Harvey  Smyth,  A.  D.  C.  to  Gen.  Wolfe. 

Bougainville 317 

From  the  collection  of  Charles  P.  Greenough. 

Facsimile  of  Autograph  of  Bougainville 319 

From  the  same. 
View  of  the  Town  of  Quebec  {photogravure)  .     .     .    facing  320 

From  an  engraving  in  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library, 
from  a  sketch  by  Capt.  Hervey  Smyth,  A.  D.  C  to  Gen.  Wolfe. 

John  Jervis 320 

From  the  same.     Autograph  from  the  same. 


xxx  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Sir  William  Howe 222 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 
General  James  Wolfe 323 

In  the  Lenox  Collection,  New  York  Public  Library. 

Louis  Joseph,  Marquis  de  Montcalm  {photogravure)  facing  324 

From  the  original  painting  in  the  possession  of  the  present  Marquis  of 
Montcalm.     By  permission  of  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons. 

Death  of  Wolfe ,25 

From  the  painting  by  Benjamin  West,  in  Grosvenor  Gallery. 


NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 


NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 


CHAPTER    I 

FROM    CARTIER   TO    CHAMPLAIN 

Among  the  seafaring  people  of  Europe  there  are  perhaps 
none  more  hardy  and  enterprising  than  the  inhabitants  of 
the  picturesque  little  towns  along  the  coasts  of  Normandy 
and  Brittany.  In  race  characteristics  there  is  a  close  simi- 
larity to  their  neighbours  of  the  opposite  British  shore.  The 
Welsh  of  Armorica  are  own  brethren  of  the  Welsh  of  Corn- 
wall, and  as  long  ago  as  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Julian  the 
regions  about  the  mouth  of  the  Seine  were  commonly  known 
as  a  Lit  us  Saxonicum,  or  Saxon  shore.  There,  to  this  day, 
you  will  find  the  snug  enclosed  farmsteads  so  characteristic 
of  merry  England,  while  the  map  is  thickly  dotted  Norman 
with  Anglo-Saxon  names.  Thither  a  thousand  sailors 
years  ago  flocked  the  Vikings  from  the  fjords  of  Norway 
and  settled  down  over  the  north  of  Gaul  as  over  the  east  of 
Britain.  The  geographical  position  was  favourable  to  the 
indulgence  of  inherited  proclivities,  and  throughout  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  the  French  and  English  shores  of  the  Channel 
were  famed  for  their  hardy  mariners.  Their  ships  thronged 
side  by  side  in  the  Icelandic  waters,  in  quest  of  codfish,  and 
even  the  chase  of  the  whale  was  not  unknown  to  them. 
When  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  Nor- 
man knight  Jean  de  Bethencourt  conquered  and  colonized 
the  Canary  Islands,  for  which  in  return  for  aid  and  supplies 
he  did  homage  to  the  king  of  Castile,1  his  company  was 
1  See  my  Discovery  of  America,  i.  321. 


2        NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

chiefly  composed  of  Bretons  and  Normans,  who  have  left 
their  descendants  in  those  islands  to  the  present  day.  As 
early  as  1364  we  find  merchants  from  Dieppe  trading  on  the 
Grain  Coast,  between  Sierra  Leone  and  Cape  Palmas ;  and 


PRINCE    HENRY    OF   PORTUGAL 

(Surnamed  the  Navigator) 

by  1383  these  bold  adventurers  had  established  themselves 
upon  that  shore,  which  they  held  until  1410.1  They  were 
On  the  coast  tnus  ln  advance  of  the  pioneers  of  Henry  the  Nav- 
<rf  Africa  igator,  and  for  a  moment  it  might  have  seemed  as 
if  the  Guinea  Coast  were  likely  to  become  French  rather 
1  Shea's  Charlevoix,  i.  13. 


FROM    CARTIER    TO    CHAMPLAIN  3 

than  Portuguese,  when  the  civil  war  between  Armagnacs 
and  Burgundians  and  the  invasion  of  France  by  Henry  V. 
of  England  put  a  new  face  upon  the  matter,  and  the  hold 
of  the  French  upon  Africa  was  lost.  A  substantial  monu- 
ment of  their  early  activity  in  that  quarter  is  furnished  by 
the  fortified  town  of  Elmina,  upon  the  Gold  Coast,  whence 
in  these  British  days  runs  the  direct  road  to  Kumassi.  El- 
mina was  founded  in  the  fourteenth  century  by  men  of 
Dieppe,  and  the  trade  in  elephants'  tusks  then  inaugurated 
gave  rise  to  the  ivory  manufactures  which  still  flourish  in 
the  little  Norman  seaport.1 

Under  these  circumstances  it  is  not  strange  that  the  voy- 
ages of  Columbus  and  the  Cabots  should  have  met  with  a 
quick  response  from  the  mariners  of  northern  Gaul.  Local 
traditions  of  a  patriotic  sort  have  asserted  that  Normandy  and 
Brittany  did  not  wait  for  the  Cabot  voyages  to  be  taught  the 
existence  of  the  Newfoundland  fisheries,  but  had  learned  the 
lesson  for  themselves  even  before  the  crossing  of  the  Sea  of 
Darkness  by  Columbus.2  There  is  no  reason  why  fishing 
voyages  to  the  Newfoundland  banks  might  not  have  been  made 
before  1492,  but  on  the  other  hand  there  is  no  respectable 
evidence  that  any  such  voyages  had  been  made.  The  strong 
impression  made  upon  John  Cabot  by  the  enormous  numbers 
of  codfish  off  the  coasts  of  Labrador  and  Newfoundland  3  indi- 
cates that  the  western  stretches  of  the  ocean  were    „ 

Breton 

by  no  means  familiar  to  the  fishermen  of  the  Eng-   ships  on 

lish  Channel.     The  first  authentic  record  we  have 

of  Breton  ships  in  Newfoundland  waters  is  in  the  year  1504, 

1  Gaffarel,  Etude  sur  les  rapports  de  VAmerique  et  de  Vancien  Con- 
tinent avant  Christophe  Colomb,  Paris,  1869,  P*  3T^- 

2  Such  claims  are  to  be  found  in  the  extremely  uncritical  book  of 
Desmarquets,  Memoires  chronologiques  pour  servir  a  Vhistoire  de 
Dieppe,  Paris,  1785. 

3  See  his  conversation  with  the  Milanese  ambassador  in  Harrisse, 
John  Cabot,  the  Discoverer  of  North  America,  and  Sebastian  his  Son, 
London,  1896,  p.  54. 


4        NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

and  from  that  time  forward  we  never  lose  a  year.  The  place 
once  found  was  too  good  to  be  neglected,  and  thus  a  presump- 
tion is  raised  against  any  date  earlier  than  1504. 

From  catching  fish  in  these  waters  to  visiting  the  neigh- 
bouring coasts  the  step  was  not  a  long  one,  and  presently  the 
name  Cape  Breton  makes  its  appearance,  the  oldest  surviving 
European  name  upon  the  Atlantic  coast  of  North  America. 
It  is  asserted  by  Dieppese  writers  that  a  chart  of  the  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence  was  made  in  1506  by  Jean  Denys  of  Honfleur, 
and  that  two  years  later  Thomas  Aubert  ascended  the  great 
ah  d  riyer  f or  eighty  leagues,  and  brought  back  to  Europe 
discovery       seven  tawny  natives  who  were  exhibited  at  Rouen 

of  the  J 

Gulf  of  st.  and  perhaps  elsewhere  in  1 509.  We  are  further- 
more assured  that  upon  this  voyage  Aubert  was 
accompanied  by  a  Florentine  mariner  destined  to  win  great 
renown,  Giovanni  da  Verrazano.  The  authority  for  these 
statements  is  not  such  as  we  could  desire,  being  found  chiefly 
in  uncritical  documents  collected  by  the  uncritical  editor 
Desmarquets,  who  lets  slip  no  opportunity  for  glorifying 
Dieppe.  There  is  strong  collateral  evidence,  however,  of  a 
voyage  into  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  at  about  this  time. 
Not  only  does  the  exhibition  of  the  kidnapped  Indians  rest 
upon  independent  evidence,  as  early  as  1512,1  but  in  the 
edition  of  Ptolemy  brought  out  in  1 5  1 1  by  Sylvanus  there  is 
a  map  containing  a  square-looking  gulf  to  the  west  of  a  spa- 
cious island  which  is  unquestionably  intended  for  Newfound- 
land, and  the  outlines  of  this  gulf  seem  to  have  originated 
in  actual  exploration  and  not  in  fancy.  There  is  a  map  pre- 
served in  the  government  archives  at  Ottawa  which  purports 
to  be  a  copy  of  that  of  Jean  Denys,  and  may  well  be  so,  for, 
although  the  names  upon  it  belong  to  a  later  period,  there  is 
some  reason  for  believing  that  they  are  a  subsequent  addi- 
tion. If  the  outlines  are  those  of  Denys  of  Honfleur,  we 
have  in  them  a  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  strange  map  of 
1  Eusebii  chronicon,  Paris,  151 2,  fol.  172. 


FROM    CARTIER    TO    CHAMPLAIN  5 

Sylvanus.  Moreover,  some  weight  must  attach  to  the  fact 
that  both  the  voyages  of  Denys  and  of  Aubert  are  mentioned 
under  the  years  1506  and  1508  by  Ramusio.1     There  can  be 


FRANCIS    I 


little  doubt  that  the  attention  of  Frenchmen  was,  to  an 
appreciable  extent,  drawn  toward  the  New  World  during  the 
reign  of  Louis  XII. 

1  Ramusio,  Navigation!  e  viaggi,  Venetia,  1550,  iii.  423  ;  2d  ed.,  Vene- 
tia,  1606,  iii.  355.  Ramusio  speaks  of  Aubert  as  the  first  who  brought 
Indians  to  France,  "il  primo  che  condusse  qui  le  genti  del  dettopaese." 


6        NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

Under  his  successor,  the  gay,  gallant,  and  ambitious  Francis 
I.,  attention  was  still  further  drawn  to  these  strange  shores. 
The  jovial  lawyer,  Marc  Lescarbot  of  Vervins,  writing  in  1612, 
tells  us  that  about  the  year  1518a  certain  Baron  de  Lery  made 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  at  establishing  a  colony  upon  Sable 
Island,  and  left  there  a  stock  of  cattle  and  pigs  which  multi- 
plied apace,  and  proved  comforting  and  toothsome  to  later 
adventurers.1 

The   French  had  sturdy   rivals  in  these  Atlantic  waters. 

That  was  the  golden  age  of  Portuguese  enterprise,  and  one  of 

the  first  results  of  the  Cabot  voyages  was  to  stim- 

The  Por-  J    & 

tuguese  ulate  the  curiosity  of  Portugal.  The  voyage  of 
to  North  Cabral  in  1500  proved  that  the  Brazilian  coast  in 
great  part  falls  east  of  the  papal  line  of  demarca- 
tion, and  therefore  belonged  to  Portugal,  and  not  to  Spain. 
In  that  same  year  a  voyage  in  the  northern  waters  by  Gas- 
par  Cortereal  raised  hopes  that  the  same  might  be  proved  true 
of  Newfoundland,  and  Portuguese  vessels  sailed  often  in  that 
direction.  Their  fishing  craft  were  to  be  seen  off  the  coast, 
in  company  with  Norman,  Breton,  and  Biscayan  vessels,  and 
sometimes  an  elaborate  attempt  at  exploration  was  made. 
Such  was  the  voyage  of  Alvarez  Fagundes  in  1520.  In  ac- 
cordance with  an  old  custom  the  king  of  Portugal  promised 
this  mariner  a  grant  of  such  new  lands  as  he  might  discover 
upon  this  expedition.  In  March,  1 52 1,  after  the  return  of 
Fagundes  and  his  report  to  the  king,  the  grant  was  duly 
issued.  From  the  descriptions  in  the  grant,  supplemented 
by  a  map  made  forty  years  later  by  Lazaro  Luiz,  we  may 
draw  conclusions,  somewhat  dubious,  as  to  just  what  was 
accomplished  by  Fagundes  ;  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
he  explored  more  or  less  thoroughly  the  coasts  of  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence.2 

1  Lescarbot,  Histoire  de  la  Nonvelle  France,  Paris,  161 2,  i.  22  ;   De 
Laet,  Novus  orbis,  p.  39. 

2  The  voyage  of  Fagundes  is  discussed  in  Harrisse,  The  Discovery  of 


FROM    CARTIER   TO    CHAMPLAIN  7 

But  the  Portuguese  were  becoming  too  deeply  absorbed 
with  their  work  in  the  Indian  Ocean  to  devote  much  atten- 
tion to  North  America.  And  in  like  manner  in  151 7-2 1  the 
discovery  of  Mexico  and  the  astonishing  exploits  of  Cortes 
quite  riveted  the  minds  of  their  rivals,  the  Spaniards,  in  that 
direction.  It  was  just  at  this  moment,  and  through  these 
circumstances,  that  French  interest  in  America  received  a 
fresh  stimulus.  After  the  capture  of  the  city  of  Mexico  an 
immense  store  of  gold  and  silver  was  shipped  for  Spain,  in 
charge  of  Alonso  de  Avila  ;  but  Avila,  with  his  ships  and 
treasure,  was  captured  by  the  famous  Verrazano 

•  -r-  t-a-  Verrazano 

and   carried  off   to   trance,   probably   to   Dieppe, 

where  the   Florentine   navigator    seems  for  many  years  to 

have  had  his  headquarters.    In  the  course  of  the  same  cruise 


cuius,  \erT^y<ou^s  \^f 


Verrazano  captured  another  Spanish  ship  on  its  way  from 
San  Domingo,  heavily  laden  with  gold  and  pearls,  so  that  he 
was  enabled  to  make  gorgeous  presents  to  King  Francis  and 
to  the  Admiral  of  France.  The  delightful  ehronicler,  Bernal 
Diaz,  who  tells  us  these  incidents,  adds  that  the  whole  coun- 
try was  amazed  at  the  stupendous  wealth  that  was  pouring 
into  the  treasury  of  Charles  V.  from  the  Indies.  The  first 
great  war  between  Charles  and  Francis  was  raging,  Francis  j. 
and  the  latter  did  not  need  to  be  told  that  Mexican   *nd  the 

demarca- 

money  could  be  used  to  pay  the  troops  that  were   tioniine 
defeating  his  army  in  Lombardy.     He  sent  a  bantering  mes- 
sage to  Charles,  asking  if  it  were  really  true  that  he  and  the 

North  America,  pp.  180-188:  Bettencourt,  Descobrimentos,  gucrras,  e 
conquista  dos  Portugueses  em  terras  de  Ultramar  nos  seculos  xv.e  xvi., 
Lisbon,  1881,  i.  132-135,  etc. 


8        NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

king  of  Portugal  had  parcelled  out  the  earth  between  them 
without  leaving  anything  for  him.  Had  Father  Adam  made 
those  two  his  only  heirs  ?  If  so,  he  wished  they  would  show 
him  that  patriarch's  last  will  and  testament.1  Until  they 
could  do  so  he  should  feel  at  liberty  to  seize  whatever  his 
good  ships  might  happen  to  meet  upon  the  ocean,  and 
forthwith  he  concerted  with  Verrazano  fresh  raids  upon  the 
enemy's  sinews  of  war. 

The  result  of  these  meditations  was  the  great  voyage  of 
1524,  which  first  placed  upon  the  map  the  continuous  coast- 
line of  the  United  States,  from  North  Carolina  to  the  mouth 
verrazano's  of  the  Penobscot  River.  The  purpose  of  this 
purpose  voyage  was  twofold  :  first,  to  ascertain  if  any  more 
countries  abounding  in  precious  metals,  like  Mexico,  or  in 
pearls,  like  Venezuela,  were  to  be  found  within  or  near  the 
longitudes  traversed  by  Columbus  and  Cabot ;  secondly,  to 
find  some  oceanic  route  north  of  Florida  from  European 
ports  to  the  Indian  Ocean.  In  other  words,  this  voyage  of 
Verrazano  was  the  first  one  which  had  any  reference  to  a 
northwest  passage.  Columbus  had  believed  the  shores  on 
which  he  landed  to  be  parts  of  Asia,  either  continental  or 
insular,  and  his  last  voyage  was  an  attempt  to  find  the  Strait 
of  Malacca  at  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Subsequent  explora- 
tions, however,  had  disclosed  an  unbroken  coast-line  all  the 
way  from  Florida  to  Patagonia ;  and  the  recent  return  in 
1522  of  the  wornout  remnant  of  Magellan's  expedition 
brought  convincing  evidence  that  the  voyage  to  India  by  his 
southerly  route  was  so  long  and  difficult  as  to  be  practically 
useless.  Thus  the  New  World  coasts  were  coming  to  be 
recognized  as  a  barrier  on  the  route  to  Asia,  and  an  impor- 
tant part  of  Verrazano's  business  was  to  discover  a  northern 

1  "  Y  entonces  dize  que  dixo  el  rey  de  Francia,  o  se  lo  embio  a  dezir 
a  nuestro  gran  Emperador,  Que  como  auian  partido  entre  el  y  el  rey  de 
Portugal  el  mundo  sin  darle  parte  a  el  ?  Que  mostrassen  el  testamento 
de  nuestro  padre  Adan,  si  les  dexo  a  ellos  solamente  por  herederos,"' 
etc.     Diaz,  Historia  verdadera,  Madrid,  1632,  cap.  clxix. 


FROM    CARTIER   TO    CHAA1PLAIN  9 

end  to  this  long  barrier,  or  a  passageway  through  it  some- 
where to  the  northward  of  the  regions  already  examined. 

This  is  not  the  best  place  for  giving  a  detailed  account  of 
Verrazano's  voyage,  inasmuch  as  it  was  confined  to  portions 
of  the  American  coast  over  which  France  has  never  held 
sway.  I  have  given  the  principal  details  of  it  in  treating  of 
the  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,1  and  need  not  repeat  them 
here.  Let  it  suffice  to  say  that  besides  delineating  the  coast 
of  the  United  States  from  North  Carolina  to  Maine,  Ver- 
razano  entered  the  Hudson  River  and  Narragansett  Bay, 
and  saw  from  his  ship's  deck  the  distant  peaks  of  the  White 
Mountains.  He  found  no  gold  mines  nor  beds  of  pearl, 
neither  did  he  anywhere  detect  what  seemed  to  him  a  fea- 
sible waterway  into  the  Indian  Ocean,  but  he  did  discover  in 
this  connection  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  mare's  nests  on 
record.  He  seems  to  have  gone  ashore  upon  the  Accomac 
peninsula  and  tramped  across  it  until  his  eyes  rested  upon 
the  waters  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  which  he  mistook  for  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  For  soon  after  his  return  to  Europe  two 
maps  were  issued,  one  by  his  own  brother,  Girolamo  Ver- 
razano,  one  by  Vesconte  Maggiolo,2  which  exerted  a  great 
influence  upon  the  geographical  ideas  of  the  next  three  gen- 
erations of  Europeans.  These  maps  show  a  solid  continen- 
tal mass  connecting  Florida  with  Mexico,  and  another  solid 
mass  to  the  northward,  such  as  would  naturally  have  been 
suggested  to  Verrazano  by  the  presence  of  such  TheSeaof 
large  rivers  as  the  Hudson  and  the  Penobscot.  Verrazano 
But  between  these  masses  the  whole  central  region  of  the 
United  States  is  represented  as  an  immense  sea  continuous 
with  the  Pacific  Ocean  ;  while  the  Virginian  coast  is  shown 
as  a  very  narrow  isthmus,  with  an  inscription  by  Verrazano's 
brother,  informing  us  that  here  the  distance  from  sea  to  sea 
is  not  more  than  six  miles.     A  full  century  elapsed  before 

1  [See  The  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,  Illustrated  Edition,  i.  54-59.] 

2  [See  Ibid.  i.  56.] 


io  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

this  notion  of  the  Sea  of  Verrazano  was  eliminated  from 
men's  minds,  and  without  taking  this  fact  into  the  account  it 
is  impossible  to  understand  the  movements  of  navigators  who 
ascended  rivers  like  the  Hudson  and  the  St.  Lawrence  in 
the  hope  of  finding  passageways  into  the  western  sea. 

When  Verrazano  arrived  in  Dieppe  in  July,  1525,  the  king, 
who  had  been  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Pavia  in  Feb- 
ruary, was  a  captive  at  Madrid.  His  demand  for  a  sight  of 
Father  Adam's  will  had  met  with  a  rude  response.  He  pur- 
chased his  freedom  in  January,  1526,  by  signing  a  disastrous 
treaty,  but  no  sooner  had  he  leaped  upon  his  goodly  steed, 
on  the  French  side  of  the  Pyrenees,  than  he  renounced  all 
intention  of  keeping  promises  thus  made  under  duress.  The 
worthy  Verrazano  fared  much  worse  than  his  royal  master. 
In  the  year  1526  he  entered  into  an  arrangement  with  Jean 
Death  of  Ango  and  other  important  citizens  of  Dieppe  for 
Verrazano  a  vovage  into  the  Indian  Ocean  for  spices,  but  in 
the  course  of  the  following  year  he  was  overhauled  by  Span- 
ish cruisers,  who  took  him  prisoner  and  hanged  him  as  a 
pirate.1 

There  enters  now  upon  the  scene  a  man  of  whose  person- 
ality we  have  a  much  more  distinct  conception  than  we  have 
of  Verrazano.  As  that  accomplished  Italian  is  one  of  the 
chief  glories  of  the  town  of  Dieppe,  so  the  Breton  seaport 
of  St.  Malo  is  famous  for  its  native  citizen,  Jacques  Car- 
jacques  tier-  His  portrait  hangs  in  the  town  hall.  Unfor- 
Cartier  tunately  its  authenticity  is  not  above  question,  but 

if  it  is  not  surely  a  true  likeness  it  deserves  to  be  ;  it  well 
expresses  the  earnestness  and  courage,  the  refinement  and 
keen  intelligence  of  the  great  Breton  mariner.2  He  had 
roamed  the  seas  for  many  years,  and  had  won  —  and  doubt- 

1  Barcia,  Ensayo  chronologico  para  la  historia  general  de  la  Florida, 
1 735,  p.  8,  since  confirmed  by  documents  in  the  archives  of  Simancas. 

2  The  best  and  most  critical  biography  is  Longrais,  Jacques  Cartier, 
Paris,  1888. 


FROM    CARTIER   TO    CHAMPLAIN  II 

less  earned — from  Spanish  mouths  the  epithets  of  "corsair" 
and  "pirate,"  when  at  the  age  of  three  and  forty  he  was  se- 
lected by  Philippe  de  Chabot,  Admiral  of  France,  to  carry  on 
the  work  of  Denys  and  Aubert  and  Verrazano,  and  to  bring 
fresh  tidings  of  the  mysterious  Square  Gulf  of  Sylvanus. 

On  April  20,  1534,  Cartier  sailed  from  St.  Malo  with  two 
small  craft  carrying  sixty-one  men,  and  made  straight  for  the 
coast  of  Labrador,  just  north  of  the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle,  a 
region  already  quite  familiar  to  Breton  and  Norman  fisher- 
men. Passing  through  the  straits  he  skirted  the  inner  coast 
of  Newfoundland  southward  as  far  as  Cape  Ray,  whence  he 


CARTIERS    MANOR    HOUSE 


crossed  to  Prince  Edward  Island,  and  turned  his  prows  to 
the  north.  The  oppressive  heat  of  an  American  July  is  com- 
memorated in  the  name  which  Cartier  gave  to  the  Bay  of 
Chaleur.  A  little  farther  on,  at  Gaspe,  he  set  up  a  cross, 
and  with  the  usual  ceremonies  took  possession  of  the  coun- 
try in  the  name  of  Francis  I.  Thence  he  crossed  to  the 
eastern  end  of  Anticosti,  and  followed  the  north  shore  of 
that  island  nearly  to  its  western  point,  when  he  headed  about, 


12  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

and  passing  through  Belle  Isle  made  straight  for  France, 
carrying  with  him  a  couple  of  Indians  whom  he  had  kid- 
napped, young  warriors  from  far  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  who 
had  come  down  to  the  sea  to  catch  mackerel  in  hemp  nets. 

With  this  voyage  of  reconnoissance  the  shadowy  Square 
Gulf  of  Sylvanus  at  once  becomes  clothed  with  reality. 
The  ex-  Enough  interest  was  aroused  in  France  to  seem 
StiieSt.  t0  justify  another  undertaking,  and  in  May,  1535, 
Lawrence  ^hQ  gallant  Cartier  set  forth  once  more,  with  three 
small  ships  and  no  men.  Late  in  July  he  passed  through 
the  Strait  of  Belle  Isle,  and  on  the  10th  of  August,  a  day 
sacred  to  the  martyred  St.  Lawrence,  he  gave  that  name 
to  a  small  bay  on  the  mainland  north  of  Anticosti.  Whales 
were  spouting  all  around  his  course  as  he  passed  the  west- 
ern point  of  the  island  and  ploughed  into  the  broad  expanse 
of  salt  water  that  seemed  to  open  before  him  the  prospect 
of  a  short  passage  to  the  Indian  Ocean.  Day  by  day,  how- 
ever, the  water  grew  fresher,  and  by  the  September  morning 
when  he  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay  our  explorer 
was  reluctantly  convinced  that  he  was  not  in  a  strait  of  the 
ocean,  but  in  one  of  the  mightiest  rivers  of  the  earth.  To 
these  newcomers  from  the  Old  World  each  day  must  have 
presented  an  impressive  spectacle ;  for  except  the  Amazon 
and  the  Orinoco  it  may  be  doubted  if  there  be  any  river 
which  gives  one  such  an  overwhelming  sense  of  power  and 
majesty  as  the  St.  Lawrence  ;  certainly  the  Mississippi  seems 
very  tame  in  comparison. 

As  the  Frenchmen  inquired  the  names  of  the  villages 
along  the  banks,  a  reply  which  they  commonly  received  from 
The  name  their  two  Indian  guides  was  the  word  Canada, 
"Canada"  which  is  simply  a  Mohawk  word  for  " village."1 
Hence  Cartier  naturally  got  the  impression  that  Canada  was 
the  name  of  the  river  or  of  the  country  through  which  it 
flowed,  and  from  these  beginnings  its  meaning  has  been 
1  Beauchamp,  Indian  Names  in  New  York,  p.  104. 


jatfavf<*r 


^A  SHORTE    AND 

briefe  narration  of  the  two 
N alligations  and  Difcoueries 

to  the  Northweafl  partes  called 
nevve    fravnce: 

Firit  tranflated  out  of  French  into  Italian,  by  that  famous 
learned  man  Gfo :  Baft:  Bgmmhts,  and  now  turned 
into  EngHfli  by  lolm  florio :  Worthy  the  rea- 
ding of  all  Venturers,  Trau  ellcrs,    . 
and  Di&oacrcrs, 


IMPRINTEDATLON- 
don,by  H.Bynncman,  dwelling 

ia  Thames  it reate,  neercvntQ 
Baynardes  Caftcit. 

Anno  Domini.  I  5  S  o. 


TITLE   OF    CARTIER'S    "a    SHORTE    AND    BRIEFE    NARRATION" 


i4       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

gradually  expanded  until  it  has  come  to  cover  half  of  a  huge 
continent.  Presently  on  arriving  at  the  site  of  Quebec, 
Cartier  found  there  a  village  named  Stadacona,  with  a  chief- 
tain called  Donnacona.  Painted  and  bedizened  warriors  and 
squaws  came  trooping  to  the  water's  edge  or  paddling  out 
in  canoes  to  meet  the  astounding  spectacle  of  the  white- 
winged  floating  castles  and  their  pale-faced  and  bearded  peo- 
ple. In  the  two  kidnapped  interpreters  the  men  of  Stadacona 
quickly  recognized  their  kinsmen ;  strings  of  beads  were 
passed  about,  dusky  figures  leaped  and  danced,  and  doleful 
yells  of  welcome  resounded  through  the  forest.  Was  this 
the  principal  town  of  that  country  ?  No,  it  was  not.  The 
town  in  question  was  many  miles  up-stream,  a  great  town, 
and  its  name  was  Hochelaga,  but  it  would  be  rash 

Hochelaga       r  t       ,  ,     ,       .   .  .  .  , 

for  the  bearded  visitors  to  attempt  to  go  thither, 
for  they  would  be  blinded  with  falling  snow,  and  their  ships 
would  be  caught  between  ice-floes.  This  ironical  solicitude 
for  the  safety  of  the  strangers  has  the  genuine  Indian  smack. 
The  real  motive  underlying  it  was  doubtless  "  protection  to 
home  industry ;  "  why  should  the  people  at  Hochelaga  get  a 
part  of  the  beads  and  red  ribbons  when  there  were  no  more 
than  enough  for  the  people  at  Stadacona  ?  Recourse  was 
had  to  the  supernal  or  infernal  powers.  On  a  fine  autumn 
morning  a  canoe  came  down  the  river,  carrying  three  scowl- 
ing devils  clad  in  dogskins,  with  inky-black  faces  surmounted 
by  long  antlers.  As  they  passed  the  ships  they  paddled 
shoreward,  prophesying  in  a  dismal  monotone,  until  as  the 
canoe  touched  the  beach  all  three  fell  flat  upon  their  faces. 
Thereupon  forth  issued  from  the  woods  Donnacona's  feath- 
An  Indian  erecl  braves,  and  in  an  ecstasy  of  yelps  and  groans 
trick  seized  the  fallen  demons  and  carried  them  out  of 

sight  behind  the  canopy  of  leaves,  whence  for  an  hour  or  so 
their  harsh  and  guttural  hubbub  fell  upon  the  ears  of  the 
Frenchmen.  At  last  the  two  young  interpreters  crawled 
out  from  the  thicket  and  danced  about  the  shore  with  ago- 


GASTALDl'S    PLAN 


rSg^s^^s- 


LATERMPE  HOCHELAGA 
NELLA  NOVA    FRANCIA-I^ 


A.  Porta  delta  Ten*  Hochelaga. 

B  ■  Stradaprincipale,chevaaIIa  piazza. 

C-  Piazza . 

D.  Cafa  del  Re  Agouhana. 

E.  La  Corte  della  cafa  del  Re, &  il  fiio 

fuoco . 

J.  Vna  dellediec!  ftradc  della  Citta. 

G.  Vna  dclle  cafe  priuate.' 

H.  Cone  con  il  fuoco,  doue  fi  cucina. 

1.  Spaciotralecaie,&laCitta,doucfipuo 
'      andarc  atforno. 

K .  L'ordimcnto ,  che  dene  le  tauole  della 
cinta  della  Citta,  che  e  fatta  in  luogo 
di  mure. 

L.  Tauoloni  cogiontidffiiora  della  citta- 

M.  Spaciodifuoraalcircuito  della  Citta. 

N.  Tauole  congionte  di  denrro  via  ilcir- 
cuito  della  Citta . 

O.  Corridor  doue  ftannoglihuomini  per 
diffefa  della  Citta. 

P.  Parapettodoueflarmoglihuomini  al- 
ia diffefa. 

Q^ll  vacuo  che ena  vna tauola,&  l'altra, 
doue  e  l'ordimento  che  tien  Ic  tauole. 

R .  Indiani,  &  Indianc,&  putti  che  fono  di 
fuori  della  Citti  j>  vcdercli  Francefi. 

S.  Francefi  cheentrono  nclla  Citta,  &  che 
toccano  la  mano  alii  Indiani,the  era- 
no  di  fuori  della  Citta  appreflbalfuo- 
eo,&  fi  fenno  carczze. 

T.  La  Scala  che  va  fu'l  Conidor. 


& 


^ 


CHELAGA 


FROM    CARTIER   TO    CHAMPLAIN  15 

nized  cries  and  gestures  of  lively  terror,  until  Cartier  from 
his  quarter-deck  called  out  to  know  what  was  the  trouble. 
It  was  a  message,  they  said,  from  the  mighty  deity  Cou- 
douagny,  warning  the  visitors  not  to  venture  upon  the  dan- 
gerous journey  to  Hochelaga,  inasmuch  as  black  ruin  would 
surely  overtake  them.  The  Frenchman's  reply  was  couched 
in  language  disrespectful  to  Coudouagny,  and  the  principle 
of  free-trade  in  trinkets  prevailed. 

With  a  forty-ton  pinnace  and  two  boats  carrying  fifty  men 
Cartier  kept  on  up  the  river,  leaving  his  ships  well  guarded 
in  a  snug  harbour  within  the  mouth  of  the  stream  now  known 
as  the  St.  Charles.  A  cheerful  voyage  of  a  fortnight  brought 
the  little  party  to  Hochelaga,  where  they  landed  . 
on  a  crisp  October  morning.  There  came  forth  arrives  at 
to  meet  them  —  in  the  magniloquent  phrase  of  the 
old  narrator  —  "  one  of  the  principal  lords  of  the  said  city,"  1 
with  a  large  company  of  retainers,  for  thus  did  their  Euro- 
pean eyes  interpret  the  group  of  clansmen  by  whom  they 
were  welcomed.  A  huge  bonfire  was  soon  blazing  and  crack- 
ling, and  Indian  tongues,  loosened  by  its  genial  warmth, 
poured  forth  floods  of  eloquence,  until  presently  the  whole 
company  took  up  its  march  into  the  great  city  of  Hochelaga. 
A  sketch  of  this  rustic  stronghold  was  published  in  1556  in 
Ramusio's  collection  of  voyages.  The  name  of  the  draughts- 
man has  not  come  down  to  us,  but  it  was  apparently  drawn 
from  memory  by  some  one  of  Cartier's  party,  for  while  it 
does  not  answer  in  all  details  to  Cartier's  description,  it  is  a 
most  characteristic  and  unmistakable  Iroquois  town. 

Hochelaga  a 

It  was  circular  in  shape.     The  central  portion  con-   typical  in- 
sisted of  about  fifty  long  wigwams,  about  150  feet    qU01 
in  length  by  50  in  breadth,  framed  of  saplings  tightly  boarded 
in  with  sheets  of  bark.     Through  the  middle  of  each  wigwam 
ran  a  passageway,  with  stone  fireplaces  at  intervals  coming 

1  "  L'un  des  principaulx  seigneurs  de  la  dicte  ville."     Cartier,  Brief 
recit  de  la  nanigation  faicte  es ysles  de  Canada,  etc.,  p.  23. 


16       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

under  openings  in  the  high  bark  roof  whereby  some  of  the 
smoke  might  escape.  Kettles  of  baked  clay  hung  over  most 
of  the  fires,  and  the  smoky  atmosphere  was  redolent  of  sim- 
mering messes  of  corn  and  beans  and  fowl,  or,  if  it  were  a 
gala  day,  of  boiled  dog,  while  the  fumes  of  tobacco  were 
omnipresent.  On  either  side  were  the  rows  of  shelves  or 
benches  covered  with  furs,  which  served  as  beds  ;  while  here 
and  there,  overlooking  sheaves  of  stone  arrows  and  scattered 
tomahawks,  there  dangled  flint  knives  and  red  clay  pipes  and 
-  ^-^pdried  human  scalps.  These  spacious  wigwams  were  arranged 
about  a  large  central  square,  and  outside  of  them  a  consider- 
able interval  or  boulevard  intervened  between  habitations 
and  wall.  Such  a  town  might  have  held  a  population  of 
from  2500  to  3000  souls,  but  the  actual  number  was  apt  to 
fall  short  of  the  capacity.  The  town  wall  was  ingeniously 
constructed  of  three  concentric  rows  of  stout  saplings.  The 
middle  row  stood  erect  in  the  ground,  rising  to  a  height  of 
twelve  or  fifteen  feet  ;  and  the  two  outer  rows,  planted  at  a 
distance  of  five  or  six  feet  on  either  side  of  it,  were  inclined 
so  as  to  make  a  two-sided  tent-shaped  structure.  The  three 
rows  of  saplings  met  at  the  top,  and  were  tightly  lashed  to  a 
horizontal  ridge-pole,  while  at  the  bottom,  and  again  about 
halfway  up,  they  were  connected  by  diagonal  cross-braces, 
after  the  herring-bone  pattern,  thus  securing  great  strength 
and  stability.  Around  the  inside  of  this  stout  wall,  and  near 
the  top,  ran  a  gallery  accessible  by  short  ladders,  and  upon 
the  gallery  our  explorers  observed  piles  of  stones  ready  to  be 
hurled  at  an  approaching  foe.  Outside  in  all  directions 
stretched  rugged  half-cleared  fields  clad  in  the  brown  rem- 
nant of  last  summer's  corn  crop,  and  clotted  here  and  there 
with  yellow  pumpkins. 

The  arrival  of  the  white  strangers  was  the  cause  of  wild 
excitement  among  the  bark  cabins  and  in  the  open  square  of 
Hochelaga.  Their  demeanour  was  so  courteous  and  friendly 
that  men,  women,  and  children  allowed  curiosity  to  prevail 


^Briefrecit,& 

fuccin&e  narration ,  de  la  nauiga- 
tionfai&eesyfles  deCanada,  Ho- 
thelage  &  Saguenay  &  autres,  auec 
particalieres  meurs,langaige)L&  ce- 
rimonies  des  habitans  d'iccllesrforc 
delegable  a  veoir. 


Auccpriuilege, 
On  Us  ucnd  a  Pms  mftconi  pHlicr  en  Ugran  J 
fdh  du  PdUis  ,ccnUrue  neufac  noftredamc  a 
tenfeignedeUfcu  dcfr<iee?p<xr  Pence  Koffet  di& 
i?aucaewrtO'  Antfame  le  Ckrcfreres* 

TITLE    OF    CARTIER'S    u  BRIEF    RECIT  " 


18  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

over  fear  ;  they  flocked  about  the  Frenchmen  and  felt  of  their 
steel  weapons  and  stroked  their  beards.  Sick  Indians  came 
up  to  be  touched  and  cured,  trinkets  were  handed  about, 
The  name  polite  speeches  were  made,  and  at  length  amid  a 
Montreal  ioucj  fanfare  0f  trumpets  the  white  men  took  their 
leave.  Before  they  embarked  the  Indians  escorted  them  to 
the  summit  of  the  neighbouring  hill,  which  Cartier  named 
Mont  Royal,  a  name  which  as  Montreal  still  remains  at- 
tached to  the  hill  and  to  the  noble  city  at  its  foot. 

It  was  getting  late  in  the  season  to  make  further  explora- 
tions in  this  wild  and  unknown  country,  and  upon  returning 
to  Stadacona  the  Frenchmen  went  into  winter  quarters. 
There  they  suffered  from  such  intensity  of  cold  as  the  shores 
Distresses  °f  tne  English  Channel  never  witnessed,  and  pre- 
of  the  winter  sently  scurvy  broke  out  with  such  virulence  that 
scarcely  a  dozen  of  the  whole  company  were  left  well  enough 
to  take  care  of  the  rest.  In  vain  were  prayers  and  litanies 
and  genuflexions  in  the  snow.  The  heavenly  powers  were  as 
obdurate  as  when  Cassim  Baba  forgot  the  talismanic  word 
that  opened  the  robbers'  cave.  But  presently  Cartier  learned 
from  an  Indian  that  a  decoction  of  the  leaves  of  a  certain 
evergreen  tree  was  an  infallible  cure  for  scurvy.  The  ex- 
periment was  tried  with  results  that  would  have  gladdened 
Bishop  Berkeley,  had  he  known  them  when  he  wrote  his 
famous  treatise  on  the  virtues  of  tar  water.1  Whether  the 
tree  was  spruce,  or  pine,  or  balsam  fir,  is  matter  of  doubt, 
but  we  are  told  that  Cartier' s  men  showed  such  avidity  that 
within  a  week  they  had  boiled  all  the  foliage  of  a  tree  as  big 
as  a  full-grown  oak,  and  had  quaffed  the  aromatic  decoction, 
whereupon  their  cruel  distemper  was  quickly  healed. 

The  ranks  had  been  so  thinned  by  death  that  Cartier  was 
obliged  to  leave   one   of  his   ships  behind.     Further  explo- 

1  On  its  specific  use  in  scurvy,  see  Berkeley's  Siris,  pp.  86-119,  in 
Fraser's  edition  of  his  works,  Oxford,  1871,  ii.  395-408,  The  bishop's 
interest  in  tar  water  seems  to  have  been  started  by  his  experiences  in 
America,  iv.  262. 


FROM    CARTIER   TO    CHAMPLAIN  19 

ration  must  be  postponed.  It  was  the  common  experience. 
A  single  season  of  struggle  with  the  savage  continent  made 
it  necessary  to  return  to  Europe  for  fresh  resources.  So  it 
was  with  Cartier.  The  midsummer  of  1536  saw  him  once 
more  safe  within  the  walls  of  St.  Malo,  and  confident  that  one 
more  expedition  would  reveal  some  at  least  of  the  wonders 
which  he  had  heard  of,  comprising  all  sorts  of  things  from 
gold  and  diamonds  to  unipeds.  As  we  are  confronted  again 
and  again  with  these  resplendent  dreams  of  the  early  voyagers 
to  America, -we  are  reminded  not  only  that  the  wish  is  father 
to  the  thought,  but  also  that  the  stolid-looking  red  man  is  the 
most  facetious  of  mortals,  and  in  his  opinion  the 
most  delightful  kind  of  facetiousness,  the  genuine 
epicure's  brand  of  humour,  consists  in  what  English  slang 
calls  "  stuffing,"  or  filling  a  victim's  head  with  all  manner  of 
false  information.  In  Cartier's  case  one  effect  was  to  lead 
him  to  kidnap  Donnacona  and  several  other  chiefs,  and  carry 
them  to  France,  that  they  might  tell  their  brave  stories  be- 
fore the  king. 

Five  years  elapsed  before  another  expedition  was  ready 
for  Canada.  King  Francis  made  up  his  mind  that  a  little 
more  flourish  of  trumpets,  such  as  the  crowns  of  Spain  and 
Portugal  indulged  in,  would  not  come  amiss.  Columbus  and 
Gama  had  been  admirals  and  viceroys  ;  it  was  high  time  for 
the  king  of  France  to  create  a  viceroyalty  in  the  New  World. 
To  fill  this  eminent  position  he  selected  Jean  Francois,  Sieur 
de  Roberval,  a  nobleman  who  held  large  estates  in  Picardy. 
This  man  he  created  Lord  of  Norumbega  and  Viceroy  over 
Canada,  Hochelaga,  Saguenay,  Newfoundland,  and  so  on 
through  a  long  string  of  barbaric  names.     At  the 

.         „       .  ,  .  ,  ,  .        Roberval 

same  time  Cartier  was  made  captain-general,  and  in 

his  commission  the  king  declares  that  the  lands  of  Canada  and 

Hochelaga  "  form  the  extremity  of  Asia  toward  the  west."  1 

1  Harrisse,  Notes  sur  la  Nouvelle  France,  "  De  par  le  roy,"  17  Oct., 
1540. 


20  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

The  flourish  of  trumpets  was  loud  enough  to  reach  the  ears 
of  Charles  V.,  but  the  Spaniards  had  become  convinced  that 
the  codfish  coasts  contained  no  such  springs  of  sudden  wealth 
as  Cortes  and  Pizarro  had  discovered  for  them,  and  the  Span- 
ish ambassador  at  Paris  advised  his  master  that  the  soundest 
policy  was  to  let  Francis  go  on  unmolested  and  waste  his 
money  in  a  bootless  enterprise. 

The  event  seemed  to  justify  this  cynicism.     It  was  a  dismal 
tale  of  misdirected  energies.      So  little  commercial  interest 
was  felt  in  the  voyage  that  volunteers  were  not  forthcoming 
and  had  to  be  sought  in  the  jails.     So  much  time  was  con- 
sumed in  getting  ready  that  it  was  decided  to  send 

Cartier's  &  &  J        . 

voyage,  on  a  part  of  the  expedition  in  advance,  and  so  in 
May,  1 541,  Carrier  started  with  three  ships,  ex- 
pecting soon  to  be  overtaken  by  Roberval.  In  this  expecta- 
tion he  tarried  six  weeks  on  the  Newfoundland  coast,  until 
the  arrival  of  August  determined  him  to  wait  no  longer,  and 
he  pushed  across  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  up  the  river. 
Of  this  voyage  we  have  no  such  full  report  as  of  its  prede- 
cessor. Very  little  seems  to  have  been  accomplished  in  new 
explorations  ;  at  Hochelaga  there  were  rumours  of  hostile 
plots  on  the  part  of  the  red  men  ;  and  then  there  was  another 
wretched  winter  near  the  site  of  Quebec  ;  and  then  a  forlorn 
retreat  to  the  ocean  and  to  France.  At  one  of  the  harbours 
on  the  Newfoundland  coast  the  little  fleet  of  Cartier  met  that 
of  Roberval,  whose  detention  of  a  whole  year  has  never  been 
accounted  for.  Our  authorities  are  here  so  confused  that  it 
is  impossible  to  elicit  from  them  a  coherent  story.  It  seems 
clear,  however,  that  the  meeting  between  the  two  command- 
ers was  not  a  pleasant  one,  and  that  Cartier  kept  on  his  way 
to  France,  leaving  Roberval  to  shift  for  himself. 

The  Lord  of  Norumbega  was  not  left  helpless,  however, 
by  this  departure.  He  had  sturdy  pilots  on  board,  already 
familiar  with  these  coasts,  and  one  of  his  three  ships  was 
commanded  by  a  veteran  navigator  who  was  thought  to  be 


FROM    CARTIER   TO    CHAMPLAIN  21 

unexcelled  by  any  other  seaman  of  France.  This  was  Jean 
Allefonsce,  of  the  province  of  Saintonge,  over  which  sweep 
the  salt  breezes  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay.     In  forty    . 

J  J  #        (        J      Jean  Alle- 

years  or  more  of  life  upon  the  ocean  he  is  likely  fonsce  tries 
to  have  visited  more  than  once  already  these  north-  the  Sea  of 
ern  waters,  such  a  haunt  of  Biscayan  fishermen 
He  was  now  entrusted  with  an  important  enterprise.  In  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  the  expedition  was  divided,  and  it  seems 
clear  that  while  Roberval  undertook  the  task  of  exploring 
the  river  he  sent  Allefonsce  on  an  ocean  trip  to  find  a  pas- 
sage into  the  Sea  of  Verrazano.  This  voyage  is  usually  men- 
tioned in  such  terms  as  to  be  unintelligible ;  as  for  example 
by  the  Recollet  friar,  Sixte  le  Tac,  writing  in  1689,  who  says 
that  Roberval  sent  Allefonsce  northward  to  Labrador  in  quest 
of  a  passage  to  the  East  Indies,  but  that  Allefonsce  was  so 
beset  with  floating  ice  that  he  was  fain  to  rest  contented 
with  discovering  the  strait  between  Newfoundland  and  the 
continent  in  latitude  520,1  or,  in  other  words,  the  Strait  of 
Belle  Isle.  Now  this  is  of  course  absurd,  for  the  Strait  of 
Belle  Isle  had  long  been  familiar  to  mariners  and  was  a  favour- 
ite route  for  entering  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  In  one  of 
the  most  recent  books,  the  late  Justin  Winsor's  "  Cartier  to 
Frontenac,"  we  get  a  reverberation  of  this  statement  when 
we  are  told  that  "  Allefonsce  went  north  along  the  Labrador 
coast  to  find,  if  possible,  a  passage  to  the  west.  The  ice 
proved  so  dense  that  he  gave  up  the  search."2  But  while 
most  writers  have  repeated  this  statement,  it  is  to  be  observed 

1  "  Ce  fut  lui  [Roberval]  aussy  qui  envoya  Alphonse  tres  habile 
pilote  xaintongeois  vers  la  Brador  pour  essayer  de  trouver  un  passage 
aux  Indes  Orientales,  mais  il  se  contenta  de  decouvrir  seulement  celuy 
qui  est  entre  l'isle  Terreneuve  et  la  grande  Terre  du  Nord  par  les  52 
degres,  les  glaces  l'empeschant  d'aller  plus  loing."  Sixte  le  Tac,  His- 
toire  chronologique  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  publiee  pour  la  premiere  fois 
(Vaprcs  le  manuscrit  original  de  i68g,par  E.  Re'veillaud,  Paris,  1888, 
p.  45. 

2  Cartier  to  Frontenac,  p.  41. 


22  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

that  the  careful  and  thoroughly  informed  Hakluyt,  writing 
in  1589,  knows  nothing  of  any  such  northern  voyage  of 
Errors  in  re-  Allefonsce.  The  truth  is,  that  eminent  sailor,  af- 
vcTa^of"5  ter  returnmg  from  his  expedition  with  Roberval, 
Allefonsce  wrote  an  account  of  his  voyages,  in  which  he  was 
aided  by  a  friend,  Paulin  de  Secalart,  a  geographer  of  Hon- 
fleur.  This  narrative,  written  in  1545,  still  remains  in  manu- 
script, a  folio  of  194  leaves,  and  is  preserved  in  the  National 
Library  at  Paris.1  But  in  1559,  shortly  after  the  death  of 
Allefonsce,  and  during  that  brief  period  of  quickened  curios- 
ity about  the  man  which  is  wont  to  come  at  such  a  time,  a 
book  was  published  at  Poitiers,  entitled  "  The  Adventurous 
Voyages  of  Captain  Jean  Allefonsce,"  and  this  book  ran 
through  at  least  seven  editions.  It  was  compiled  by  a  mer- 
chant of  Honfleur  named  Maugis  Vumenot,  and  is  a  thor- 
oughly uncritical  and  untrustworthy  narrative.2  It  omits 
much  that  Allefonsce  tells,  and  weaves  in  such  interesting 
material  as  Master  Vumenot  happened  to  have  at  hand,  with- 
out much  regard  to  its  historic  verity.  Such  were  the  naive 
methods  of  sixteenth  century  writers. 

If  we  consider  what  Allefonsce  himself  tells  us,  although 
his  allusions  to  places  are  often  far  from  clear,  we  cannot 
fail  to  see  that  his  voyage  in  quest  of  a  western  passage  in 
The  true  the  summer  of  1542  was  directed  not  northward 
A\Tefonsnce°'fs  but  southward  from  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  He 
voyage  seems  to  have  entered  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  may 

have  passed  through  Long  Island  Sound  and  Hell  Gate ;  at 
all  events,  he  has  much  to  say  about  the  town  of  Norum- 
bega,  which  Mercator's  map  of  1569  places  upon  Manhattan 
Island ;  and  he  tells  us  that  the  river  of  Norumbega  is  salt 

1  Its  description  is  Cosmographie  avec  espere  et  regime  du  Soleil  et 
du  Nord en  nostre  langne  francoyse par  Jehan  Allefonsce,  Bibliotheque 
Nationale,  MSS.  francais  6j6.  An  account  of  it  is  given  in  Harrisse. 
Decouverte  de  Terre-Neuve,  p.  153,  and  Notes  stir  la  Nouvelle  France, 
p.  7.     See  also  De  Costa,  Northmen  in  Maine,  etc.,  pp.  92-122. 

2  Cf.  Weise,  The  Discoveries  of  America,  New  York,  1884,  P-  352- 


L    E    S 


Voyages  auantureux 

D  V     C  A  P  I  T   A  I  N  E 


Ian    A  l  f  o  n  c  e 
Saincrongeois'. 


Auec  Priuilege 


duR 


o 


y- 


A  Poitiers,  au  Pelican,  par  Ian  de  Marne£ 


TITLE   OF    ALLEFONSCE'S    "VOYAGES,"  1559 


24  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

for  more  than  ninety  miles  from  its  mouth,  which  is  true 
of  the  Hudson,  but  not  of  any  other  river  which  men  have 
sought  to  associate  with  Norumbega.  Moreover,  our  good 
pilot  feels  confident  that  this  great  river,  if  followed  far 
enough  to  the  northward,  would  be  found  to  unite  with  the 
other  great  river  of  Hochelaga,  that  is,  the  St.  Lawrence.1 
This  notion,  of  a  union  between  the  Hudson  and  the  St. 
Lawrence,  became  a  very  common  one,  and  found  expres- 
sion upon  the  famous  map  of  Gastaldi  in  1553,  and  upon 
other  maps. 

If  we  were  to  allow  a  little  free  play  to  our  fancy,  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  assign  a  suitable  explanation  for  this  voy- 
age of  Allefonsce  in  connection  with  the  expedition  of 
Roberval.  There  is  no  longer  any  doubt  that  the  Hudson 
River  was  first  made  known  to  Europeans  by  Verrazano  in 
1524,  and  was  called  by  various  names,  of  which  perhaps 
the  Grand  River  was  the  most  common.  At  the  Indian 
village  on  Manhattan  Island  French  skippers  traded  for  furs, 
and  in  1540a  French  blockhouse  was  built  near 

Allefonsce 

visits  the  the  site  of  Albany  for  the  purpose  of  protecting 
such  traffic  with  the  red  men  of  the  Mohawk  val- 
ley. The  name  Norumbega  unquestionably  first  appears  with 
Verrazano' s  voyage,  and  for  forty  years  thereafter  it  was 
closely  associated  with  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Hudson. 
In  reading  the  string  of  Roberval's  titles — which  begin 
with  Norumbega  and  run  through  Canada,  Hochelaga, 
Saguenay,  etc.,  down  to  Newfoundland  —  it  is  clear  that  the 
king  meant  to  concentrate  under  his  rule  the  various  regions 
which  Verrazano  and  Cartier  had  discovered.  When  the 
expedition  arrives  on  the  American  coast  it  seems  not  un- 
natural that  the  viceroy  should  send  his  lieutenant  to  Nor- 
umbega while  he  himself  should  prosecute  the  journey  to 
Hochelaga.  Possibly,  as  some  believed,  the  watery  channels 
pursued  by  the  two  might  unite.  At  all  events,  a  passage 
1  Cf.  Weise,  The  Discoveries  of  America,  New  York,  1884,  p.  352. 


FROM    CARTIER   TO    CHAMPLAIN  25 

into  the  Sea  of  Verrazano  was  more  likely  to  be  found  at  the 
fortieth  parallel  than  at  the  fifty-second. 

It  is  a  pity  that  these  amiable  old  skippers,  in  telling  of 
their  acts  and  purposes,  should  have  paid  so  little  heed  to 


ANDRE    THEVET 


posterity's  craving  for  full  and  exact  knowledge.  Just  how 
far  the  good  Allefonsce  ever  got  with  his  Norumbega  voyage, 
or  what  turned  him  back,  we  are  not  informed.  We  may 
safely  say  that  he  did  not  succeed  in  sailing  into  the  Sea  of 
Verrazano,  and  the  next  summer  we  find  him  once  more 
with  Roberval  on  the  St.  Lawrence.     Thither  that  captain 


26       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

had  proceeded  at  the  outset  after  parting  company  with 
Allefonsce.  Of  his  fortunes  during  the  next  seventeen 
months  our  accounts  are  but  fragmentary.  Hakluyt  is  un- 
usually brief  and  vague,  and  we  have  to  rely  largely  upon  a 
manuscript  of  1 5  56,1  written  by  the  somewhat  mendacious 
Andre  Thevet,  who  seems  to  have  been  an  intimate  friend 
of  Roberval  and  a  boon  companion  of  the  irrepressible  buf- 
foon Rabelais.  Provokingly  scanty  as  Thevet  often  is,  there 
are  times  when  he  goes  into  full  details,  and  one  of  his 
romantic  stories  is  worthy  of  mention,  since  it  probably  rests 
upon  a  basis  of  fact. 

The  expedition  of  Roberval  was  intended  not  only  for  ex- 
ploring the  wilderness  but  for  founding  a  colony.  Homes 
were  to  be  established  in  the  New  World,  and  many  of  the 
company  brought  along  with  them  their  wives  and  children. 
Among  the  young  women  was  Marguerite  Roberval,  niece 
of  the  Lord  of  Norumbega,  and  on  the  same  ship  was  a  gal- 
lant chevalier,  and  the  twain  loved  one  another  not 

The  charac- 

ter  of  Ro-  wisely  but  too  well.  Roberval  was  a  man  of  stern 
and  relentless  disposition,  and  forgiveness  of  sins 
formed  no  part  of  his  creed.  He  set  his  niece  ashore  on  a 
small  barren  island,  with  an  old  Norman  nurse  who  had  been 
in  her  confidence,  and  left  them  there  with  a  small  supply 
of  food  and  guns  for  shooting  game  or  noxious  beasts.  As 
the  ship  sailed  away,  the  lover  leaped  into  the  sea  and  by 
dint  of  frenzied  exertion  swam  ashore.  The  place  was 
dreaded  by  sailors,  who  called  it  the  Isle  of  Demons,  but 
bears  and  wolves  were  more  formidable  enemies.  On  that 
island  was  born,  during  the  year  1542,  the  first  child  of 
European  parents  within  the  vast  region  now  known  as 
British  America,  but  one  after  another,  child,  father,  and 
nurse,  succumbed  to  the  hardships  of  the  place  and  died, 
leaving  the  young  mother  alone  in  the  wilderness.  There 
for  more  than  two  years  she  contrived  to  sustain  life,  on 
1  See  Harrisse,  Notes  stir  la  Nouvelle  France,  p.  278. 


FROM    CARTIER   TO    CHAMPLAIN 


27 


three  occasions  shooting  a  white  bear,  and  at  all  times  keeping 
the  demons  aloof  by  the  sign  of  the  cross,  until  one  day  she 
was  picked  up  by  a  fishing  vessel  and  carried  back  to  France. 
There  Thevet  tells  us  that  he  met  her  a  little  later,  in  a  vil- 
lage  of  Perigord,  and   heard   the  story  from   her   Thero- 
own  lips.     At  all  events,  it  was  much  talked  of  in    ™obervai's 
France,  and  forms  the  subject  of  the  sixty-seventh   niece 
tale  in  the  famous  collection  of  Queen  Margaret  of  Angou- 


HUNTING    ON    SNOW-SHOES    IN    CANADA 


leme,  sister  of  Francis  I.1     The  Isle  of  Demons  was  often 
called  by  sailors  the  Isle  of  the  Damsel. 

Ascending  the  great  river  to  Cap  Rouge,  near  the  site  of 
Quebec,  where  Cartier  had  wintered,  Roberval  made  it  his 

1  See  Heptameron  :  Les  Arouvelles  de  Marguerite,  Reine  de  Navarre, 
Berne,  1781,  torn.  iii.  pp.  179-184.  In  my  copy  of  this  edition  de  luxe 
the  superb  engraving  by  Freudenberg  represents  the  lovers  seated 
under  palm-trees ! 


28  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

headquarters.  Little  is  known  as  to  the  course  of  events, 
save  that  in  the  following  summer  Allefonsce  had  returned, 
and  a  trip  was  made  up  the  Saguenay.  There  were  severe 
hardships  and  many  died.  The  sternness  of  Roberval  is 
conspicuous  in  the  narrative,  and  may  have  been  called  forth 
by  apparent  necessity.  There  were  occasions  on  which  both 
men  and  women  were  shot  for  an  example,  and  the  whip- 
ping post  was  frequently  in  requisition,  "  by  which  means," 
observes  the  worthy  Thevet,  "  they  lived  in  peace."  This  is 
about  all  we  know  of  the  mighty  viceroyalty  of  Hochelaga, 
etc.  Lescarbot  tells  us  that  in  the  course  of  1543  the  king 
sent  out  Cartier  once  more,  who  brought  home  to  France 
the  wretched  survivors  of  the  company.1  About  this  time 
Cartier  received  from  the  king  a  grant  of  a  manor  on  the 
coast  of  the  Channel,  not  far  from  St.  Malo,  and  there  we 
lose  sight  of  the  navigator,  except  for  the  mention  of  his 
death  at  that  place  in  1557.  Allefonsce  seems  to  have  been 
killed  in  a  sea  fight  about  ten  years  before,  and  we  are  told 
that  Roberval  was  assassinated  one  evening  on  the  street  in 
Paris. 

After  the  failure  of  this  expedition  there  was  a  partial  ces- 
sation of  French  enterprise  upon  the  high  seas.  The  reign 
of  Henry  II.  was  clouded  by  the  disastrous  wars  with  Spain, 
in  which  France  lost  the  three  bishoprics  of  Metz,  Toul,  and 
Verdun,  and  French  armies  were  so  woefully  defeated  at 
Suspension  St.  Quentin  and  Gravelines.  The  death  of  the 
elpbra-Ch  king  m  1 5  59  was  the  signal  for  the  rise  of  the 
tion  Guises  and  the  pursuance  of  a  policy  which  brought 

on  one  of  the  most  disastrous  civil  wars  of  modern  times. 
From  1562  to  1598  some  historians  enumerate  eight  succes- 
sive wars  in  France,  but  it  is  better  to  call  it  one  great  civil 
war  of  thirty-six  years,  with  occasional  truces.  It  is  still 
more  instructive  to  regard  it  all  as  a  phase  of  the  still  mightier 
conflict  which  was  at  the  same  time  raging  between  Spain 
1  Lescarbot,  ii.  416. 


AEKPESE'lHLEbVf 

4 


i:i"    TKOPIUVE       D'E     CANCER* 


111 


a*. 


\      L\;N\[ivOCa.ANE> 

AER  "DESP 

■tm-  M 


*>'        I 


AtRBI  FRANCE: 


ft  I  -*i^* 


NEW   FRANCE,   FROM   DE! 


.S'S    MAPPEMONDE,    1546 


\Jf  :> 


FROM    CARTIER   TO    CHAMPLAIN  29 

and  the  Netherlands,  and  which  presently  included  Queen 
Elizabeth's  England  among  the  combatants.  It  was  not  a 
favourable  time  for  expending  superfluous  energy  in  found- 
ing new  states  beyond  sea.  During  the  latter  half  of  the 
century  we  witness  two  feeble  and  ill-starred  attempts  at 
planting  Huguenot  colonies  in  America,  —  the  attempt  of 
Villegagnon  in  Brazil  in  1557-58,  and  that  of  Ribaut  in 
Florida  in  1562-65.  The  latter  of  these  was  Ribaut  in 
formidable  in  purpose ;  it  represented  the  master  Florida 
thought  of  Coligny  which  led  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  to  plan  the 
founding  of  an  English  nation  in  America.  The  violent 
destruction  of  this  Huguenot  colony  was  the  last  notable 
exhibition  of  Spanish  power  beyond  sea  in  that  century  of 
Spanish  preeminence.  Spanish  energy,  too,  was  getting 
absorbed  in  the  conflict  of  Titans  in  Europe. 

The  affair  of  Florida  was  essentially  military  in  purpose 
and  execution.  Attempts  at  planting  commercial  colonies  on 
the  St.  Lawrence  must  wait  for  some  more  favourable  oppor- 
tunity. Yet  French  fishing  vessels  steadily  plied  to  and  fro 
across  the  Atlantic.  Investigations  in  the  local  importance 
account-books  of  such  towns  as  Dieppe  and  Hon-  ^  ^Traffic 
fleur  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  as  many  as  200  of  the  sea 
ships  were  equipped  each  year  in  French  ports  for  fishing  in 
American  waters.1  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  these 
craft  to  bring  home  furs  and  walrus  ivory.  But  we  hear  of 
little  in  the  way  of  exploration.  Dieppe,  indeed,  boasted 
something  like  a  school  of  seamanship.  It  was  a  city  to 
which  astronomers,  geographers,  and  map-makers  were  drawn 
in  order  to  profit  by  the  experiences  of  practical  navigators, 
and  where  questions  connected  with  oceanic  exploration  were 
likely  to  be  treated  in  a  scientific  spirit.  In  those  days  such 
men  as  Pierre  Desceliers,  who  has  been  called  the  creator  of 
French  hydrography,  and  whose  beautiful  maps  are  now  of 
great  historical  importance,  made  his  headquarters  at  Dieppe. 
1  Winsor,  Cartier  to  Frontenac,  p.  74. 


30  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

It  was  a  time  of  keen  intellectual  curiosity  and  bold  commer- 
cial activity ;  and  nothing  was  needed  but  relief  from  the 
oppressive  anarchy  that  had  ruled  so  long  to  see  France  put- 
ting forth  new  efforts  to  plant  colonies  and  to  prepare  for 
maritime  empire.  The  end  of  the  century  saw  a  new  state 
of  things,  the  military  strength  of  Spain  irretrievably  broken, 
the  policy  of  France  in  the  hands  of  the  greatest  and  wisest 
ruler  that  France  ever  had,  with  England  and  the  Nether- 
lands looming  up  as  powerful  competitors  in  the  world  beyond 
seas.  Before  the  rivals  lay  the  American  coasts,  inviting 
experiments  in  the  work  of  transplanting  civilization.  It 
remained  to  be  seen  how  France  would  fare  in  this  arduous 
undertaking. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    QUEBEC 

The  year  1598  was  a  memorable  one  in  the  history  of 
France,  for  it  witnessed  the  death  of  that  insatiable  schemer, 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  supporter  of  the  Guises,  and  it  also  saw 
the  end  of  the  long  wars  of  religion  and  the  promulgation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes.  The  time  seemed  to  be  more  propitious 
than  before  for  commercial  enterprises,  and  the  thoughts  of 
a  few  bold  spirits  turned  once  more  to  the  St.  Lawrence. 
One   of  these  was   the    Marquis  de  la   Roche,   a 

Voyage  of 

Breton  nobleman,  who  obtained  from  Henry  IV.    the  Marquis 

.,  .  ,  ,  .    ,       de  la  Roche 

a  commission  very  similar  to  that  under  which 
Roberval  had  sailed.  But  so  little  popular  interest  was  felt 
in  the  enterprise  that  volunteers  would  not  come  forward, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  gather  recruits  from  the  jails. 
The  usual  scenes  of  forlorn  and  squalid  tragedy  followed. 
Roche  was  cast  ashore  on  the  Breton  coast  in  a  tempest,  and 
was  thrown  into  a  dungeon  by  the  king's  enemy,  the  Duke 
de  Mercosur ; 1  while  his  convicts  were  landed  on  Sable  Is- 
land, and  only  saved  from  starving  by  the  wild  cattle  de- 
scended from  Lery's  kine  of  fourscore  years  before. 

While  these  things  were  going  on  there  was  a  skipper  of 
St.  Malo,  a  man  of  good  family  anal  some  property,  Francois 
Grave,  Sieur  du  Pont,  commonly  known  as  Pontgrave,  who 
had  made  up  his  mind  that  the  Canada  fur-trade  was  some- 
thing that  ought  to  be  developed.  He  had  sailed  up  the 
St.  Lawrence  as  far  as  Three  Rivers,  and  had  feasted  his 
eyes  upon  the  soft  glossy  pelts  of  mink  and  otter,  lynx  and 
1  The  "  Duke  Mercury  "  of  John  Smith's  Trite  Travels,  chaps,  v.,  vi. 


32       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

wolverene.  The  thing  to  do  was  to  get  a  monopoly  of  the 
trade  in  furs,  and  with  this  end  in  view  Pontgrave  applied  to 
a  friend  of  the  king,  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Honfleur  named 
Pierre  Chauvin  and  a  staunch  Huguenot  withal.  Another 
man  of  substance,  the  Sieur  de  Monts,  became  interested  in 
the  scheme,  and  the  three  formed  a  partnership  ;  while  the 
Pontgrave  king  granted  them  a  monopoly  of  the  fur-trade  on 
vS? secure  a  tne  condition  that  they  should  establish  a  colony. 
S°thePfur-  This  privilege  awakened  fierce  heart  -  burnings 
trade  among  the  gallant  skippers  of  St.  Malo,  who  de- 

clared that  they  had  done  more  than  anybody  else  to  main- 
tain the  hold  of  France  upon  the  St.  Lawrence  country,  and 
there  was  no  justice  in  singling  out  one  of  their  number  for 
royal  favour,  along  with  merchants  from  Honfleur  and  else- 
where. Similar  complaints  were  heard  from  Rouen,  Dieppe, 
and  Rochelle ;  the  parliaments  of  Normandy  and  Brittany 
took  up  the  matter,  and  a  fierce  outcry  was  made  because 
Chauvin  and  Monts  were  Protestants.  But  this  argument 
naturally  went  for  little  with  Henry  IV.,  and  the  monopoly 
was  granted. 

Pontgrave  and  Chauvin  made  their  headquarters  at  Ta- 
dousac,  where  the  waters  of  the  Saguenay  flow  into  the  St. 
Lawrence.  The  traffic  in  furs  went  on  briskly,  but  the  busi- 
ness of  colonization  was  limited  to  the  leaving  of  miserable 
garrisons  in  the  wilderness  to  perish  of  starvation  and  scurvy. 
So  things  went  on  from  1599  to  1603,  when  Chauvin  on  his 
third  voyage  died  in  Canada.  The  partnership  was  thus 
broken  up,  and  the  monopoly  for  the  moment  went  a-begging. 

It  was  only  for  a  moment,  however.     The  governor  of 

Dieppe  since   1589  was  Aymar  de  Chastes,  a  stout  Catholic 

of  the  national  party  and  a  friend  of  Henry  IV.     On  the 

great  day  of  Arques  in   1589,  when  the  Leaguers  boasted 

that  their  fat  Duke  of  Mayenne,1  with  his  army  of  30,000, 

1  Mais  un  parti  puissant,  d'une  commune  voix, 
Placait  deja  Mayenne  au  trone  de  nos  rois. 

Voltaire,  La  Henriade,  vi.  61. 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    QUEBEC 


33 


would  make  short  work  of  the  king  with  his  7000,  when  the 
fashionable  world  of  Paris  was  hiring  windows  in  the  Fau- 
bourg St.  Antoine,  to  see  the  rugged  Bearnese  brought  in 


tied  hand  and  foot,  it  was  largely  through  the  aid  of  Chastes 
that  Henry  won  his  brilliant  victory  and  scattered 

De  Chastes 

the  hosts  of  Midian.1     It  was  therefore  not  strange   succeeds 

that  when,  upon  the  death  of  Chauvin,  this  scarred 

and  grizzled  veteran   asked   for   the   monopoly  in  furs,  his 


1  Michelet,  Histoire  de  France,  xii.  286 
p.  6. 


Gravier,  Vie  de  Chatnplain, 


34  NEW  FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

request  was  promptly  granted.  Chastes  soon  found  an  able 
ally  in  Pontgrave,  but  even  with  the  allurements  of  rich  car- 
goes of  peltries  it  was  hard  to  get  people  to  subscribe  money 
for  such  voyages.  Loans  for  such  purposes  were  classed  on 
the  market  as  loans  at  heavy  risk,  and  the  rate  of  interest 
demanded  was  usually  from  35  to  40  per  cent.1 

While  the  preparations  were  briskly  going  on  a  new  figure 
entered  upon  the  scene,  the  noble  figure  of  the  founder  of 
New  France.  Samuel  Champlain  was  now  about  six  and 
thirty  years  of  age,  having  been  born  in  or  about  the  year 
1567,  at  Brouage,  a  small  seaport  in  the  province  of  Saint- 
onge,  not  many  miles  south  of  Rochelle.  The  district,  situ- 
ated on  the  march  between  the  Basque  and  Breton  countries, 
was  famous  as  a  nursery  of  hardy  sailors,  and  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Rochelle  was  one  of  the  chief  centres  of  Huguenot 
ferment.  Champlain' s  father  was  a  seafaring  man,  but  no- 
thing is  positively  known  as  to  his  station  in  society  or  as  to 
his  religion.     One  local  biographer  calls  him  an 

The  early  6  &      r 

life  of  humble  fisherman,  but  the  son  s  marriage  contract 

describes  him  as  of  noble  birth.  The  son  was  often 
called  by  contemporaries  the  Sieur  de  Champlain,  but  that 
was  chiefly  perhaps  after  he  had  risen  to  eminence  in  Canada. 
The  baptismal  names  of  the  father  and  mother,  Antoine  and 
Marguerite,  indicate  that  they  were  born  Catholics ;  while 
Samuel,  the  baptismal  name  of  the  son,  affords  a  strong  pre- 
sumption that  at  the  time  of  his  birth  they  had  become  Hu- 
guenots. In  later  life  Champlain  appears  as  a  man  of  deeply 
religious  nature  but  little  interested  in  sectarian  disputes,  a 
man  quite  after  the  king's  own  heart,  who  realized  that  there 
were  other  things  in  the  world  more  important  than  the  dif- 
ferences between  Catholic  and  Huguenot.  Champlain  was 
to  the  core  a  loyal  Frenchman,  without  a  spark  of  sympathy 

1  Toutain,  "  Les  anciens  marins  de  l'estuaire  dela  Seine,"  in  Bulletin 
de  la  Societe  normande  de  Geographie,  1898,  xx.  134;  Brdard,  Le  vieux 
Honfleur  et  ses  marins,  Rouen,  1897,  p.  59. 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    QUEBEC  35 

with  those  intolerant  partisans  who  were  ready  to  see  France 
dragged  in  the  wake  of  Spain. 

The  early  years  of  this  noble  and  charming  man  were 
mostly  spent  upon  the  sea.  He  was  a  true  viking,  who 
loved  the  tossing  waves  and  the  howling  of  the  wind  in  the 
shrouds.  His  strength  and  agility  seemed  inexhaustible,  in 
the  moment  of  danger  his  calmness  was  unruffled  as  he  stood 
with  hand  on  tiller,  calling  out  his  orders  in  cheery  tones 
that  were  heard  above  the  tempest.1  He  was  a  strict  dis- 
ciplinarian, but  courteous  and  merciful  as  well  as  just  and 
true ;  and  there  was  a  blitheness  of  mood  and  quaintness  of 
speech  about  him  that  made  him  a  most  lovable  companion. 
In  the  whole  course  of  French  history  there  are  few  person- 
ages so  attractive  as  Samuel  Champlain. 

For  several  years  until  the  peace  of  1598  Champlain 
served  in  the  army  of  Henry  IV.  as  deputy  quartermaster- 
general.  One  of  his  uncles  was  pilot  major  of  the  Spanish 
fleets,  and  after  the  peace  Champlain  accompanied  him  to 
Seville.  A  fleet  was  on  the  point  of  sailing  for  Mexico,  un- 
der the  Admiral  Francisco  Colombo,  and  Champlain  obtained, 
through  his  uncle's  influence,  the  command  of  one  of  the 
ships.  The  voyage,  with  the  journeys  on  land, 
lasted  more  than  two  years,  and  Champlain  kept  a  in  the  west 
diary,  from  which  after  returning  to  France  he 
wrote  out  a  narrative2  which  so  pleased  the  king  that  he 
granted  him  a  pension.  In  this  relation  Champlain  described 
things  with  the  keen  insight  and  careful  attention  of  a  nat- 

1  Champlain,  Traite  de  la  marine  et  dn  devoir  d*un  bon  marinier, 
pp.  1-7. 

2  An  English  translation  from  this  MS.  was  published  by  the  Hak- 
luyt  Society  in  1859  under  the  title  Nai'rative  of  a  Voyage  to  the  West 
Indies  and  Mexico.  The  original  MS.  was  first  published  in  1870  as 
the  first  volume  of  Champlain's  works  edited  by  Laverdiere  :  Brief 
discours  des  choses  plus  remarquables  que  Samuel  Champlain  de  Brou- 
age  a  reconnues  aux  hides  occidentales  au  voyage  qu'il  en  a  faict  en 
icelles  en  Lannee  mil  vc  iiij"  xix,  etc. 


36       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

uralist.  Shores,  havens,  and  mountains  lie  spread  out  before 
you,  with  the  wonderful  effects  of  snow-clad  peaks  rising 
from  the  masses  of  tropical  verdure,  birds  of  strange  colour 
sing  in  the  treetops,  while  hearsay  griffins,  with  eagles' 
heads,  bats'  wings,  and  crocodiles'  tails  lurk  in  the  back- 
ground ;  and  worse  than  such  monsters,  our  traveller  thinks, 
are  the  spectacles  of  Indians  flogged  for  non-attendance  at 
mass,  and  heretics  burned  at  the  stake.  While  making  a 
halt  at  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  it  occurs  to  him  that  a  ship- 
canal  at  that  point  would  shorten  the  voyage  to  Asia  even 
more  effectually  than  the  discovery  of  a  northwest  passage. 

When  Champlain  returned  to  France  he  found  Aymar  de 
Chastes  preparing  to  send  Pontgrave-  upon  a  voyage  to  Can- 
ada. The  veteran  Pontgrave  was  brave  and  wise,  resource- 
ful and  light-hearted,  just  the  sort  of  man  whom  Champlain 
would  be  sure  to  like.  It  is  therefore  not  strange  that  we 
find  him  embarking  in  the  enterprise  with  Father  Pontgrave, 
as  he  used  affectionately  to  call  him.  The  two  sailed  from 
Honfleur  on  the  15  th  of  March,  1603,  and  seventy  days 
Cham-  later   they   were   gliding    past   the   mouth   of    the 

voyage  t"  Saguenay.  As  they  approached  the  St.  Charles 
Canada  they  saw  no  traces  of  the  Iroquois  town  of  Stada- 
cona.  On  they  went  as  far  as  Hochelaga,  where  Cartier  had 
been  entertained  sixty-eight  years  before,  but  not  one  of  its 
long  bark  cabins  was  left,  nor  a  vestige  of  its  stout  triple 
palisade,  nor  a  living  soul  to  tell  the  story  of  the  dire  catas- 
trophe. No  Iroquois  were  now  to  be  met  upon  the  St.  Law- 
rence except  as  invaders,  nor  were  the  accents  of  their  speech 
to  be  heard  from  the  lips  of  the  red  men  who  emerged  from 
the  thickets  to  greet  Champlain  and  Pontgrave.  Another 
The  dis-        name  than  "  Canada  "  would  have  become  attached 

appearance  ,  .       ..  1  .        -, 

of  the  iro-  to  that  country  had  these  explorers  been  the  first 
oflHochea-ge  to  penetrate  its  wilds.  No  doubt,  whatever,  can 
laga  attach   to  the  facts.     There  is  no  doubt  that  in 

1535  Iroquois  villages  stood  upon  the  sites  of  Montreal  and 


SAVVAGES,  " 

o  V, 

VOYAGE  DE  SAMVEL 

Champlain,  de  Brovage, 

fait  en  la  France  nouuelle, 

Tan  mil  fix  cens  trois: 

CON  TENANT 

Ics  mccurs,  facon  de  viure,  manages,  gderr«3  &.  habi- 
tations des  Sauuages  de  Canada?. 

De  la  defcouuerre  de  plus  de  quatre  cens  cinquante 
lieutfsdanslepaisdesSauuag.es.  Quels  peuples  y  ha- 
bitent,  des  animaux  qui  s'y  trouuent,  des  riuieres, 
lacs,iflcs  &  terres,  &  quels  arbres  &  frui&s  elles  pro- 
duifent. 

De  la  cofte  d'Arcadie,  des  terres  que  l'on  y  a  defcouuer- 
res,  &  de  plufieurs  mines  qui  y  font,  felon  le  rapport 
des  Sauuages. 


A     PARIS, 

Chez    Ciavde   de   Monst  R*ce  i  l  ,  tenant  fa 
boutique  en  la  Cour  du  Palais,  au  nom  de  Iefus. 

~~AYEC    PRIVILEGE    DV    ROY 


TITLE    OF    CHAMPLAIN'S    "  DFS    SAVVAGES,"  1604 


COMMISSIONS    DF 

Roy  f£> ^  deMonfeigncurbjddmiral, 
attfieurdeMontSypour  Inhabi- 
tation es  terres  de  Lacadie 
Canada ,  &  autrcs  en- 
droits  en  la  nouutlle 
France. 

Enfemblc  lesdefcnfes  premieres  &:  fecon- 
des  a  cous  autres ,  de  trafiquer  auec    • 
les  Sauuages  defdkes  terres. 

Auec  k  aerification  en  U  Cottrde  Parlementa  vms, 


A   PARIS. 


TITLE    OF   SIEUR    DE    MONT'S    "COMMISSIONS' 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF   QUEBEC  39 

Quebec,  or  that  the  Iroquois  language  was  that  of  the  na- 
tives who  dwelt  along  the  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence ;  while 
in  1603  the  villages  with  their  people  and  their  language  had 
vanished  from  these  places,  and  instead  of  them  were  found 
Algonquin  villages  of  a  much  lower  type  and  a  ruder  people, 
known  as  Adirondacks,  and  speaking  an  Algonquian  lan- 
guage. The  visits  of  our  good  Frenchmen  have  placed  dates 
upon  a  portion  of  one  of  those  displacements  or  wanderings 
of  people  that  have  commonly  gone  on  in  barbaric  ages  alike 
in  the  Old  World  and  in  the  New.  Just  as  we  find  Hun- 
nish  hordes  in  one  age  breaking  their  strength  against  the 
great  wall  of  China  and  in  another  age  mowed  down  by  the 
swords  of  Roman  and  Visigoth  in  the  valley  of  the  Marne, 
just  as  we  see  the  Arab  smile  and  hear  the  Arabic  guttural 
in  Cordova  and  in  Lucknow,  so  in  the  New  World  we  find 
Dacotahs  or  Sioux  strayed  afar  into  the  Carolinas  with  their 
identity  veiled  under  the  name  "  Catawbas,"  and  we  recog- 
nize in  the  brave  and  intelligent  Cherokees  of  Georgia  pure- 
blooded  Iroquois,  own  cousins  of  the  Mohawks. 

Now  the  Iroquois,  as  we  know  them,  while  preeminent  in 
power  of  organization,  have  not  been  a  numerous  family. 
Within  our  historic  ken,  which  is  so  provokingly  narrow,  the 
most  fruitful  and  abounding  Indian  stock  has  been  that  of 
the  Algonquins.      They  include  the  Blackfeet  of  the  Rocky 

Mountains  and  the  Crees  of  the  Hudson  Bay  coun- 

i-ii  The 

try,  along  with  the  Powhatans  of  Old  Virginia,  and    Iroquois 

Eliot's  version  of  the  Bible  for  the  natives  of  Massa-   tyt^Ai- 

chusetts  Bay  is  to-day  for  the  most  part  intelligible    gonquins 

to  the  Ojibways  of  Minnesota.    Obviously  within  recent  times, 

that  is  to  say  since  the  fourteenth  century,  the  Algonquins 

have  been  for  a  period  of  some  duration  a  rapidly  multiplying 

and  spreading  race,  and  their  weight  of  numbers  for  a  time 

proved  too  much  for   the  more  civilized  but  less  numerous 

Iroquois  to  withstand.     Thus  in  the  Appalachian  region  we 

find  the  mound-building  Cherokees   retiring  from  the  Ohio 


40  NEW  FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

valley  into  Georgia  before  the  advancing  swarms  of  Shaw- 
nees  ;  and  we  see  the  Tuscaroras,  another  band  of  Iroquois, 
pushed  into  Carolina  by  the  expansion  of  the  Algonquin  Pow- 
hatans  and  Dela wares. 

From  the  time  when  white  men  first  became  interested  in 
the  Five  Nations  of  New  York,  it  was  a  firmly  established  tra- 
dition among  the  latter  that  their  forefathers  had  once  lived 
on  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  in  particular  that  they  had  a  strong- 
hold upon  or  hard  by  the  site  of  Montreal  ;  but  that  they  had 
been  driven  to  the  southward  of  Lake  Ontario  by  the  hostility 
of  a  tribe  of  Algonquins  known  as  Adirondacks.1  Their  first 
movement  seems  to  have  been  up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  across 
Lake  Ontario  to  the  mouth  of  the  Oswego  River,  where  for 
some  time  they  had  their  central  strongholds.  Thence  they 
spread  in  both  directions.  Those  who  settled  at  the  head  of 
the  Canandaigua  lake  became  known  by  the  Algonquin  name 
of  Senecas,  which  has  been  variously  interpreted.  Those 
who  stopped  at  a  lake  to  the  eastward,  with  a  marsh  at  its 
foot,  called  Cayuga,  or  "  mucky  land,"  were  known  by  that 
name.  Those  who  kept  up  the  ancestral  council  fires,  and 
spread  over  the  divide  between  the  Oswego  and  Mohawk 
watersheds,  and  so  on  over  the  gentle  rolling  country  east- 
ward of  the  Skaneateles  or  "  long  lake,"  have  ever  since  been 
known  as  Onondagas,  or  "  men  of  the  hills."  Eastward  from 
this  central  region  the  people  were  called  Oneidas,  or  "men 
of  the  boulders"  (or  perhaps  "men  of  granite"),  from  the 
profusion  of  erratic  blocks  strewn  over  their  territory.  Far- 
thest to  the  east,  and  most  famous  of  these  confederated  war- 
riors, were  the  people  who  called  themselves,  or  were  called 
by  their  kinsmen,  Caniengas,  or  "people  of  the  flint "  that 
was  used  in  striking  fire  ;  they  are  best  known  to  history, 
however,  by  the  name  of  Mohawk,  or  "man-eater,"  bestowed 
upon  them  by  their  Algonquin  foes,  and  which  all  the  Iroquois 

1  Colden's  History  of  the  Five  Indian  Nations,  London,  1755,  '• 
23- 


W   W  ^i  Vjc^  -q  \Vl 


sVJ&> 


THE   BEGINNINGS    OF   QUEBEC  41 

seem    abundantly    to    have    earned    by    their   cannibal  pro- 
pensities.1 

The  driving  of  the  Iroquois  up  the  St.  Lawrence  valley 
into  central  New  York  by  their  Algonquin  assailants  had 
remarkable  consequences.  For  military  and  commercial  pur- 
poses the  situation  was   the  best  on  the  Atlantic  slope  of 


SENECA-IROQUOIS   LONG    HOUSE 


North  America.  The  line  of  the  Five  Nations  stretched  its 
long  length  between  the  treasures  of  beaver  and  otter  on  the 
great  lakes  and  the  wampum  beds  on  the  coast  of  Long 
Island  ;  but   if  an  enemy,  from  any  quarter  of  the  compass, 


96  ft 
GROUND-PLAN    OF    LONG    HOUSE 


ventured  to  attack  that  long  line,  forthwith  it  proved  to  be 
an  interior  line  in  following  which  he  was  apt  to  be  over- 
whelmed. 

Along  with  this  singular  advantage  of  geographical  posi- 
tion, the  Five  Nations  soon  learned  the  value  of  political 
confederation  in  preserving  peace  among  themselves,  while 
increasing  their  military  strength.     It  was  a  common  thing 

1  Beauchamp,  Indian  Arames  in  New  York,  passim  ;  Morgan,  League 
of  the  Iroquois,  pp.  51-53  ;  Ancient  Society,  p.  125. 


42  NEW  FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

for  Indian  tribes  of  allied  lineage  to  enter  into  confederation, 
but  no  other  union  of  this  sort  was  so  artfully  constructed, 
harmonious,  and  enduring  as  the  League  of  the  Iroquois. 
The  date  of  the  founding  of  this  confederacy  seems 
Iroquois        to  have  been  not  far  from  1450,  and  we  may  sup- 

coniGd.Gr3.cv 

pose  the  great  movement  from  the  valley  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  the  lakes  of  central  New  York  to  have  occurred 
about  a  century  earlier.  This  group  of  Iroquois,  which  be- 
came the  Five  Nations,  was  an  overgrown  tribe  which  un- 
derwent expansion  and  segmentation.  From  the  expanding 
Onondagas  the  extreme  wings  first  broke  off  as  Senecas  and 
Mohawks ;  afterward  the  Onondagas  again  threw  off  the 
Cayugas,  while  a  portion  of  the  Mohawks  became  marked 
off  as  Oneidas.  To  abolish  war  throughout  their  smiling 
country  by  referring  all  affairs  of  general  concern  to  a  repre- 
sentative council  was  the  great  thought  of  the  Onondaga 
chief  Hiawatha,  who,  after  bitter  opposition  in  his  own  tribe, 
found  a  powerful  ally  in  Dagonoweda,  the  Mohawk.1  Soon 
after  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  work  of  these 
sagacious  statesmen  was  accomplished,  and  thenceforth  the 
people  of  the  five  tribes,  from  Canandaigua,  "  the  chosen 
settlement,"  to  Schenectady,  "  the  plain  beyond  the  opening," 
were  proud  to  call  themselves  Hodenosaunee,  or  "  Kinsmen 
of  the  Long  House."  Thenceforth  they  found  themselves 
more  than  a  match  for  the  Algonquin  foe,  and  able  to  go 
forth  and  assail  him. 

But  there  were  yet  other  Iroquois  kinsmen  beside  those 
of  the  Long  House.  To  the  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
of  Lake  Ontario  as  far  west  as  the  Georgian  Bay  of  Lake 
Huron  one  might  have  encountered  the  populous  tribe  of 
Hurons.  In  blood  and  speech  they  differed  no  more  from 
Mohawks  than  a  Frank  from  a  Frisian,  or  a  Welshman  of 
Wales  from  a  Welshman  of  Cornwall.  They  were  the  rear 
of  the  retiring  Iroquois  host,  the  buffer  that  took  the  first 
1  Hale,  The  Iroquois  Book  of  Rites,  chap.  ii. 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    QUEBEC  43 

brunt  of  the  Algonquin  onsets.  They  were  probably  the 
last  to  leave  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  all  proba- 
bility the  towns  of  Hochelaga  and  Stadacona,  visited  in 
15  35   by  Cartier,  were  Huron  towns,  which  in  the 

DJD       J  '  '  Outlying 

course  of  the  next  half  century  were  swept  away  tribes  of 
by  the  last  advancing  Algonquin  wave.  In  Cham- 
piain's  time  the  Huron  boundaries  all  stopped  west  of  the 
meridian  of  Niagara,  and  their  population  of  20,000  souls 
was  to  be  found  mostly  between  Lake  Simcoe  and  the  Geor- 
gian Bay.  Between  these  Hurons  and  Lake  Erie,  west  of 
the  Niagara  River,  dwelt  another  tribe  of  identical  blood  and 
speech,  known  as  the  Attiwendaronks  ;  and  south  of  Lake 
Erie  came  the  Eries  ;  while  down  in  the  pleasant  valley  of 
the  Susquehanna  were  the  villages  of  the  powerful  tribe  vari- 
ously called  Susquehannocks,  Andastes,  or  Conestogas.  All 
these  were  Iroquois,  and  were  severely  blamed  by  the  Five 
Nations  for  refusing  to  accept  Hiawatha's  "  Gift  of  Peace  " 
and  join  the  confederacy.  They  were  scorned  as  base  and 
froward  creatures,  so  bent  upon  having  their  own  way  that 
they  held  aloof  from  the  only  arrangement  that  could  put  a 
curb  upon  the  perpetual  slaughter ;  such,  at  least,  was  the 
purport  of  the  solemn  speeches  that  used  to  be  made  before 
the  council  fires  at  Onondaga.  The  Five  Nations  were  bound 
to  be  peace-makers,  even  at  the  cost  of  massacring  all  the 
human  population  of  America.  They  fully  appreciated  the 
injunction,  "  Compel  them  to  enter  in."  In  the  course  of 
the  seventeenth  century  we  find  them  annihilating  succes- 
sively the  Hurons,  Attiwendaronks,  Eries,  and  Conestogas, 
and  after  the  customary  orgies  of  torment  and  slaughter, 
adopting  the  remnants  into  their  own  tribes.  In  Champlain's 
time  the  hatred  between  the  Five  Nations  and  the  Hurons 
had  come  to  such  a  pass  that  the  latter  forgot  their  ancient 
hostility  to  the  Algonquins  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  were 
wont  to  make  common  cause  with  them  against  the  dreaded 
Long  House.     In  these  ways,  when  Champlain  arrived  upon 


44  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

the  scene,  a  situation   had   been   prepared  for  him  and  for 
France,  of  which  he  understood  absolutely  nothing. 

Five  years  were  to  pass,  however,  before  the  gallant  French- 
man was  to  taste  the  first  fruits  of  the  true  significance  of 
the  disappearance  of  Hochelaga.  When  in  the  autumn  of 
1603  the  returning  ships  arrived  at  Havre,  they  were  met  by 
the  news  that  Chastes  was  dead.  Once  more  the  business 
must  be  reorganized,  and  this  time  it  was  the  Sieur 

Designs  of 

the  sieur  de  Monts,  already  mentioned,  who  took  the  lead. 
This  nobleman  turned  his  thoughts  a  little  to  the 
southward,  perhaps  with  a  view  to  milder  winters,  and  ob- 
tained from  the  king  a  grant  extending  from  about  the  lati- 
tude of  Montreal  as  far  south  as  that  of  Philadelphia.  There 
is  a  Micmac  word,  Acadie  or  Aquoddy,  which  means  simply 
" place  "  or  "region,"  and  which  appears  in  such  names  as 
Passamaquoddy.  In  French  it  has  a  romantic  flavour,  which 
is  perhaps  slightly  enhanced  in  the  English  Acadia.  To  the 
country  since  famous  under  that  name  the  Sieur  de  Monts 
brought  his  little  company  in  the  spring  of  1604.  There 
had  been  indignant  outcries  over  the  circumstance  that  this 
gentleman  was  a  Huguenot,  but  the  king  laughed  at  these 
protests.  He  insisted  that  Monts  should  so  far  defer  to 
public  opinion  as  to  take  a  Romish  priest  with  him  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  heathen ;  but  he  allowed  him  also  to  take 
a  Calvinist  minister  for  his  own  spiritual  solace  and  enliven- 
ment.  Hardly  had  the  French  coast-line  sunk  below  the 
horizon  when  the  tones  of  envenomed  theological  discussion 
were  heard  upon  the  quarter-deck.  The  ship's  atmosphere 
grew  as  musty  with  texts  and  as  acrid  with  quibbles  as  that 
Homeric  °^  a  room  at  tne  Sorbonne,  and  now  and  then 
quarrels  a  scene  of  Homeric  simplicity  was  enacted,  when 
the  curate  and  the  parson  engaged  in  personal  combat.  "  I 
forget  just  now,"  says  Champlain,  "which  was  the  hardest 
hitter,  but  I  leave  you  to  imagine  what  a  fine  spectacle  they 
made,  aiming  and  dodging  blows,  while  the  sailors  gathered 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF   QUEBEC  45 

around  and  backed  them  according  to  their  sectarian  preju- 
dices," 1  some  shouting  "  Hang  the  Huguenot  !  "  and  others 
"  Down  with  the  Papist !  "  On  shore  similar  scenes  recurred, 
with  an  accompaniment  of  capering  and  yelping  Indians,  to 
whom  it  was  quite  enough  that  a  scrimmage  was  going  on, 
and  who  were  perhaps  scarcely  worse  fitted  than  the  com- 
batants themselves  to  understand  the  issues  involved.  It 
happened  that  amid  the  hardships  which  assailed  the  little 
company  these  two  zealous  men  of  God  succumbed  at  about 
the  same  time,  whereupon,  says  one  of  our  chroniclers  with 
a  shudder,  the  sailors  buried  them  in  the  same  grave,  ex- 
pressing a  hope  that  after  so  much  strife  they  would  repose 
in  peace  together.2 

In  our  brief  narrative  there  is  no  need  for  entering  into 
the  details  of  this  first  experience  of  white  men  in  Acadia. 
The  experiment  extended  over  three  years,  during  occupation 
which  there  were  voyages  back  and  forth  across  of  Acadia 
the  ocean  with  reinforcements  to  offset  the  losses  from  dis- 
ease. Among  the  company,  besides  its  leaders,  were  two 
men  of  rare  and  excellent  quality,  the  Barorf  de  Poutrincourt 
and  Marc  Lescarbot,  an  advocate  and  man  of  letters  who 
was  seized  by  a  sudden  inclination  for  wild  life.  Among 
Lescarbot 's  accomplishments  was  a  knack  of  turning  off 
long  Alexandrine  verses  by  the  yard,  but  what  was  of  far 
more  value,  he  wrote  a  shrewd  and  pithy  prose,  abounding 
in  good  sense  and  cheer.  After  the  priceless  writings  of 
Champlain  himself  there  are  few  books  about  the  beginnings 
of  New  France  with  which  we  should  be  so  loath  to  part  as 
the  three  teeming  volumes  of  Lescarbot. 

The  first  attempt  at  settlement  was  made  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Ste.  Croix,  but  the  fancy  of  Poutrincourt  was  cap- 
tivated by  the  beautiful  gulf  to  which  the  English  in  later 
days  gave  the  name  of  Annapolis.     He  obtained  from  Monts 

1  Champlain,  Voyages,  1632.  i.  46. 

2  Sagard,  Histoire  die  Canada,  1636,  p.  9. 


46 


NEW  FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 


"eTcVFE  DE  LA   TERRE  .NEVVE,  GRANDE    RIVIERE  D£  CANADA ;  ET      C 


LESCARBOT'S    MAP    OF 


a  grant  of  the  spot  with  its  adjacent  territory,  and  called  it 
Port  Royal.  There  after  a  while  the  work  of  these  colonists 
Founding  was  concentrated,  while  Champlain  spent  much 
Roya? later  t^me  m  exploring  and  delineating  the  coasts.  Of 
Annapolis  making  charts  he  was  never  weary,  and  in  follow- 
ing sinuous  shore-lines  he  found  delight.  One  of  his  first 
discoveries  was  the  grand  and  picturesque  island  which  he 
called  "  isle  of  the  desert  mountains,"  "  L'Isle  des  Monts 
Champlain  Deserts,"  a  name  which  to  this  day  by  its  notice- 
NePw°Ene-ie  able  accent  on  the  final  syllable  preserves  a  record 
land  coast  0f  tfas  French  origin.  A  little  farther  to  the  west 
he  entered  and  explored  for  some  distance  the  Penobscot, 
which  fishermen  often  called  the  river  of  Norumbega,  but 
he  found  no  traces  of  the  splendid  city  into  which  popular 
fancy  had  magnified  Allefonsce's  Indian  village   upon   the 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    QUEBEC 


47 


Pat 


tfiers&h 


tochers  &dt\ert. 


parts 


>o. 


fa 


f'i^i  h 


/•"r"^' 


NEW   FRANCE,    1609 

island  of  Manhattan.1  Farther  on  he  ascended  the  Ken- 
nebec, and  was  correctly  told  by  Indians  of  the  route  to  the 
St.  Lawrence  by  the  valley  of  the  Chaudiere,  the  route  which 
was  traversed  with  such  bitter  hardship  by  Benedict  Arnold 
and  his  men  in  1775.  As  the  French  navigator  passed  Casco 
Bay  he  began  to  notice  a  marked  superiority  in  the  Indians 
over  the  squalid  Micmacs  and  Etetchemins  of  Acadia.  The 
wigwams  were  better  built,  and  the  fields  of  maize,  beans, 
and  pumpkins  wore  a  kind  of  savage  cheerfulness  under  the 
scorching  July  sun.  Champlain  entered  the  Charles  River, 
and  mistook  it  for  the  great  stream  which  was  soon  to  be 
explored  by  Henry  Hudson.     After  duly  astonishing  the  na- 

1  In  Gravier's  Vie  de  Samuel  Champlain,  Paris,  1900,  pp.  40-49,  the 
reader  will  find  more  or  less  uncritical  speculation  connected  with  this 
little  summer  voyage. 


48       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

tives  of  the  triple-peaked  peninsula,  he  passed  on  to  Plymouth, 
sailed  around  Cape  Cod,  and  proceeded  as  far  as  Nauset 
Harbour,  where  the  supplies  began  to  give  out,  and  a  direct 
return  was  made  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy. 

The  object  of  this  coasting  voyage  was  to  see  if  any  spot 
could  be  found  for  a  settlement  that  would  be  preferable  to 
those  already  visited  in  Canada  or  on  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  For 
a  moment  the  Charles  River  seems  to  have  tempted  these 
worthy  Frenchmen,  but  they  decided  to  go  farther.  Their 
narrative  indicates  a  much  greater  coast  population  of  red 
men  than  was  found  by  the  Mayflower  Pilgrims  fifteen  years 
later,  and  enables  us  to  form  some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  pestilence  which  in  the  interval  nearly  depopulated  the 
shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  In  1605  all  the  best  spots 
seemed  to  show  Indian  villages.    The  next  summer 

A  second 

exploration  Champlain  made  another  reconnoitring  voyage  from 
Massachu-  Port  Royal,  in  company  with  Poutrincourt.  They 
lost  but  little  time  in  getting  to  Cape  Cod,  and  then 
in  rounding  Cape  Malabar  they  had  a  singular  experience. 
At  a  distance  of  a  league  and  a  half  from  the  shore  they 
found  the  depth  of  water  rapidly  diminishing  to  less  than  a 
fathom,  while  on  every  side  the  waves  leaped  and  gambolled 
in  the  wildest  confusion.  They  got  their  bark  across  this 
ugly  shoal  with  a  broken  rudder,  little  dreaming  that  only 
four  years  before  the  same  spot,  proudly  rearing  its  head 
above  the  sea,  had  been  described  by  Bartholomew  Gosnold 
under  the  name  of  Nauset  Island.  It  had  lately  been  beaten 
down  and  submerged  by  the  angry  waters,  but  nearly  three 
centuries  were  consumed  in  washing  away  the  fragments. 
The  sea  is  now  six  fathoms  deep  there.1 

After  getting  clear  of  this  dangerous  place  Poutrincourt 
put   into  Chatham   Harbour   for   repairs,  and   there  he   re- 
mained  a   fortnight,   closely   watched   from   the   bushes   by 
peering  red  men  who  one  morning  before  daybreak  came 
1  De  Costa,  Pre-Columbian  Discovery  of  America,  p.  97. 


MAP    OF    THE    GULF    Ol 


RNCE,    BY    CHAMPLAIN,    1632 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF   QUEBEC 


49 


swarming  about  a  party  of  sleeping  Frenchmen,  and  killed 
several.  Thence  our  voyagers  kept  on  to  Hyannis,  and 
from  that  neighbourhood  descried  a  shore-line  to  the  south- 
ward, which  must  have  been  either  Martha's  Vineyard  or 
Nantucket.     By  this   time   Poutrincourt   had   made   up   his 


CHAMPLAIN'S    PLAN    OF    PLYMOUTH    HARHOUR 


mind  that  Port  Royal  was  the  best  place  for  his  colony  after 
all,  and  so  the  prow  was  turned  in  that  direction. 

Things  went  well  enough  with  them  until  in  a  stress  of 
weather  near  Mount  Desert  their  rudder  broke,  and  their 
last  hundred  and  fifty  miles  were  far  from  comfortable.  As 
they  entered  the  harbour  of  Port  Royal  a  singular  spectacle 
greeted  them.  That  fortress  consisted  of  a  large  wooden 
quadrangle  enclosing  a  courtyard.  At  one  corner,  which 
came  down  to  the  water's  edge,  was  an  arched  gateway 
flanked  by  rude  bastions  mounting  a  few  cannon.  One  side 
of  the  quadrangle  comprised  the  dining-room  and  officers' 
quarters,  on  the  second  side  were  the  barracks  for  the  men, 


50  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

on  the  third  the  kitchen  and  oven,  and  on  the  fourth  the 
storerooms.     Now   on  the  November  evening  when  Cham- 
plain  and  Poutrincourt  sailed  into  the  harbour  they 
esque  saw  the  buildings  brightly  lighted  and  the  arch 

surmounted  by  the  royal  arms  supported  on  either 
hand  by  the  heraldic  emblems  of  Baron  Poutrincourt  and  the 
Sieur  de  Monts.  While  the  weary  voyagers  were  admiring 
the  pageant  there  stepped  forth  from  the  gateway  no  less 
a  personage  than  old  Neptune,  Lord  of  the  Ocean,  with  a 
pompous  retinue  of  Tritons,  who  marched  with  measured 
step  to  meet  the  ship,  declaiming  long  Alexandrine  rhymed 
couplets  of  praise  and  welcome.  Thus  was  the  tedium  of 
the  wilderness  relieved  by  the  ingenious  Lescarbot,  whose 
active  brain  was  never  idle,  but  in  the  intervals  of  work  was 
sure  to  be  teeming  with  quips  and  quirks  and  droll  conceits. 
During  the  summer  he  had  kept  the  men  at  work  to  good 
purpose,  and  not  only  raised  a  crop  of  maize,  but  made  a 
respectable  beginning  with  barley,  wheat,  and  rye.  It  was 
to  a  well-stocked  home  that  he  politely  ushered  the  voyagers, 
after  wanderings  which  he  would  refrain  from  comparing 
with  those  of  yEneas  and  Ulysses,  inasmuch  as  he  did  not 
like  to  soil  their  holy  missionary  enterprise  with  unclean 
pagan  similitudes.  In  such  whimsicalities  there  was  a  strong 
sympathy  between  the  mariner  of  Saintonge  and  the  lawyer 
of  Vervins.  Champlain  praised  Lescarbot's  thrifty  house- 
keeping, and  devised  a  plan  whereby  their  table  might  be 
always  well  supplied.  The  magnates  at  Port  Royal,  who  oc- 
cupied the  dining-room,  were  fifteen  in  number  ;  Champlain 
formed  them  into  an  order  of  knighthood,  which  he  called 
the  "Order  of  Good  Times,"  and  each  member  in  regular 
rotation  was  Grand  Master  of  the  Order  for  one 

The 

Knightly       day,  during  which  he  was  responsible  not  only  for 

Good  the  supply  of  the  larder  but  for  the  cooking  and 

serving  of  the  meals.     The  result  was  a  delicious 

sequence   of  venison,  bear,  and  grouse,  ducks,    geese,   and 


&rt  %oy'al- 


Les  chifrcsmontrei 

G  RiuiercfaincftAntoine. 

H  Lieu  in  labouraje  oii  on  feme 


A  Lelien  deThabitation. 
B  IardinduficurdcChampIain. 
C  Alice  an  traucrs  les  bots  que  }      leble. 
fitfaircleficurdePoitrincoort.  'I  Moulin  que  fit  faire  lc  ileur  de 


:. 


D  Idea  l'cntrcc  dc  lariuicrcdc 

I'Equille. 
E   emrfcedu  port  Royal 
F  BAiTcsquiafTcch&dcbaflcrocr 


Pomincourt. 
L  Prairies  qui  font  innodecsdes 

cauxaur  grandes  marccs. 
M  Riuicrcdci'Equilb, 


champlain's  plan  of  th 


w 


brajjes  <fean. 

La  coftc  dc  ia  mer  du  pocr 

vojral. 

Codes  de  montaigncj. 

flc  prochc dc  !a  riuicrc  fainft 

ntoine, 

Ruiflcau  dcla  Roche 

Autre  Psuiffcau. 


S  Riuferc  durwonlin. 
T  Petit  lac 

V  Lc  lieu  ou  !c$  Cwv^yes  jef 
client  le  harantr  en  la  faifon, 

X  RuiflTeau  dela  trutierc 

Y  Aliee  que  fit  fairct!c  ficuxdt 
Champlain 


\Jf 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF   QUEBEC  51 

plover,  as  well  as  fresh  fish  innumerable,  to  go  with  their 
breadstuffs  and  dried  beans.  Lescarbot  boasted  that  the 
fare  could  not  be  excelled  in  the  best  restaurants  of  Paris, 
and  they  had  brought,  moreover,  such  a  generous  quantity 
of  claret  that  every  man  in  the  colony  received  three  pints 
daily.  Under  such  circumstances  we  need  not  wonder  that 
there  was  no  scurvy,  or  that  there  were  only  four  deaths 
during  the  winter.  Such  comfort  and  immunity  were  un- 
usual in  those  improvident  days. 

It  was  with    high    hopes    that  these    blithe    Frenchmen 


THE  FORTRESS  AT  PORT  ROYAL 


hailed  the  approach  of  spring,  but  its  arrival  brought  unwel- 
come news  and  reminded  them  of  the  flimsiness  of  the  basis 
on  which  such  hopes  had  been  sustained.  The  merchants 
and  fishermen  of  Normandy  and  Brittany  had  never  approved 
of  the  monopoly  granted  to  Monts  ;  on  the  contrary,  they 
had  never  ceased  to  fight  against  it  at  court  with  money  and 
personal   influence,   and   now  at   last   they  had   procured  a 


52  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

repeal  of  the  monopoly.  Monts  had  spent  on  the  enterprise 
a  sum  exceeding  $  1 00,000  of  our  modern  money  ;  he  was 
allowed  an  indemnity  of  $6000  provided  he  could  collect  it 
from  fur-traders.  The  blow  was  decisive.  If  it 
De  Monts'  proved  so  hard  to  found  colonies  even  with  the 
advantages  of  a  monopoly,  clearly  there  was  no  use 
in  going  on  without  such  aid.  The  good  Poutrincourt  could 
not  be  induced  to  give  up  his  plans  for  Port  Royal,  but  three 
years  elapsed  before  he  was  enabled  to  renew  his  work  there. 
Meanwhile  we  must  follow  the  fortunes  of  Champlain  and 
Monts  after  their  return  to  France. 

They  first  betook  themselves  to  Paris,  to  confer  with  the 
king ;  and  Champlain  tells  us  how  day  after  day  he  walked 


GRAVESTONE    AT    PORT    ROYAL 


the  streets  of  the  great  city  like  a  man  in  a  dream.  In 
early  days  he  had  loved  the  ocean  and  felt  suffocated  in  an 
air  that  was  not  spiced  with  adventure.  He  had  now  left 
his  heart  in  the  wilderness,  a  subtle  robber  that  in  such 
matters  never  makes  restitution.  He  longed  to  follow  up 
Champlain  each  entrancing  vista  in  the  woodland,  and  to  im- 
attention  to  Prove  his  acquaintance  with  its  denizens,  four- 
Canada  footed  or  winged  as  well  as  human.  Especially 
was  his  curiosity  whetted  by  the  recollection  of  the  mighty 
river  which  he  had  once  ascended  for  so  many  miles.  At 
Hochelaga,   or  rather   upon  the   shore  where   that  barbaric 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF   QUEBEC  53 

town  had  once  stood,  he  had  heard  of  oceans  to  the  west- 
ward, by  which  his  informants  doubtless  meant  the  great 
lakes,  and  he  had  been  told  of  a  cataract  a  league  in  width, 
down  which  leaps  a  mighty  mass  of  water,  which  certainly 
sounds  to  our  ears  like  a  reference  to  Niagara  Falls.  Cham- 
plain  wished  to  see  such  things  for  himself,  and  he  believed 


that  the  St.  Lawrence  fur-trade  would  prove  a  source  of 
great  wealth  ;  nor  was  he  at  all  lacking  in  missionary  zeal. 
He  was  more  than  once  heard  to  say  that  the  saving  of  a 
soul  is  worth  more  than  the  conquest  of  an  empire.  Here, 
then,  was  important  work  which  he  felt  that  Frenchmen 
were  called  upon  to  do.  He  consulted  with  his  comrades 
Monts  and  Pontgrave,  and  found  in  them   abundant   sym- 


54  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

pathy.  Henry  IV.  was  inclined  to  look  with  favour  upon 
such  schemes,  but  his  able  minister  Sully  took  a  different 
view.  The  European  schemes  of  these  two  statesmen  were 
far-reaching  and  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  Sully  believed 
that  France  had  need  at  home  of  all  the  able-bodied  men 
she  could  muster ;  it  was  poor  economy,  he  thought,  to  be 
wasting  lives  in  Canada.  There  was  also  the  cry  against 
monopolies,  but  Henry  nevertheless  yielded  so  far  as  to 
renew  to  Monts  the  monopoly  in  furs  for  one  year,  a  con- 
cession which  was  far  from  showing  the  king's  customary 
soundness  of  judgment,  since  it  was  too  brief  to  be  of  much 
use.  The  grantee  and  his  friends,  however,  could  go  on  in 
the  hope  of  further  renewals  ;  and  so  in  fact  they  did. 

In  April,  1608,  the  expedition  sailed  from  Honfleur, 
Champlain  following  Pontgrave  at  a  week's  interval.  On  ar- 
riving at  Tadousac  our  French  adventurers  got  into 
ditionof  further  trouble  in  the  matter  of  Father  Adam's 
will.  Pontgrave  found  a  party  of  Basques  trading 
with  the  Indians,  and  so  far  were  they  from  taking  his  re- 
monstrance in  good  part  that  a  tussle  ensued  in  which  they 
boarded  his  ship,  killing  and  wounding  some  of  his  men,  and 
seized  all  his  firearms.  But  on  the  arrival  of  Champlain 
the  strangers  became  more  peacefully  inclined,  and  an  agree- 
ment was  made  by  which  the  whole  matter  was  referred  to 
the  courts  of  justice  in  France. 

Champlain  then  pursued  his  way  up-stream  past  the  island 
of  Orleans  to  the  narrow  place  where  a  mighty  promontory 
Quebec  rears  its  head  over  opposite  Point  Levi.  The 
founded  French  continued  calling  it  by  its  Algonquin  name 
Quebec,  or  "The  Narrows,"1  and  there,  in  what  is  now  the 
Lower  Town,  they  speedily  reared  a  stack  of  buildings  en- 
closed by  a  wooden  wall  mounting  a  few  cannon  and  loop- 
holed  for  musketry.  While  the  building  was  going  on  there 
was  a  leaven  of  treason  at  work  in  the  company.  A  lock- 
1  Parkman,  Pioneers  of  France,  p.  329. 


At ' 


56  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

smith  named  Duval  took  it  into  his  head  that  more  was  to 
be  gained  from  playing  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards  who 
had  not  yet  left  Tadousac  than  from  loyally  serving  his  own 
country.  What  private  motives  may  have  urged  him  we  do 
not  know.  The  plan  was  to  murder  Champlain  and  hand 
over  the  new  fortress  and  all  the  property  to  the  Basques. 
But  the  secret  was  entrusted  to  too  many  persons,  and  so 
came  to  Champlain's  ears.  Just  as  he  had  learned  all  the 
details  a  pinnace  sent  up  from  Tadousac  by  Pontgrave 
arrived  upon  the  scene,  and  in  it  was  a  man  whose  fidelity 
was  above  suspicion.  Champlain  instructed  him  to  invite 
Treachery  Duval  and  three  accomplices  to  a  social  evening 
foiled  glass  in  the  cabin,  telling  them  that  the  wine  was 

a  present  from  some  Basque  friends.  The  bait  was  eagerly 
swallowed,  and  no  sooner  had  the  plotters  set  foot  aboard  the 
pinnace  than  to  their  amazement  they  were  seized  and  hand- 
cuffed. It  was  not  clear  just  how  far  the  plot  had  spread,  but 
it  mattered  little  now.  In  the  middle  of  the  summer  night 
the  little  colony  was  aroused  from  its  slumbers,  and  many 
a  heart  quaked  with  fear  as  the  announcement  was  made 
of  the  detection  of  the  plot  and  the  arrest  of  the  ringleaders. 
The  long  rays  of  the  morning  sun  revealed  the  severed  head 
of  the  locksmith  Duval  adorning  the  wooden  gateway  of  the 
courtyard  ;  his  three  accomplices  were  sent  to  France  to  work 
in  the  galleys  ;  and  a  proclamation  of  pardon  without  further 
inquiry  put  everybody  else  at  his  ease.  Treason  and  assas- 
sination had  suddenly  become  unpopular. 

A  terrible  winter  followed.  When  Pontgrave  set  sail  for 
France  in  September  with  a  magnificent  cargo  of 
winter  at  furs  he  left  Champlain  at  Quebec  with  twenty- 
eight  men.  At  the  end  of  May  only  nine  of  these 
were  left  alive.  At  last  the  good  Pontgrave  appeared  with 
reinforcements  and  supplies,  and  it  was  arranged  that  he 
should  carry  on  his  trading  at  Quebec  while  Champlain 
should  explore  the  country.     This  was  a  task  the  meaning 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    QUEBEC 


57 


JuTIlL , 

M    Tt/t,  t  -NL 


THE    FORT   AND    BUILDINGS    AT    QUEBEC,    1608 

of  which  was  to  be  learned  only  through  harsh  experience, 
but  it  was  obvious  from  the  first  that  it  would  involve  pene- 
trating the  forest  to  a  great  and  unknown  distance  from  any 
possible  civilized  base  of  operations.  It  was  work  of  im- 
mense difficulty.  To  carry  on  such  work  with  an  army  had 
well-nigh  overtaxed  the  genius  of  such  commanders  as  Soto 
and  Coronado,  with  the  treasury  of  the  Indies  to  back  them. 
For  Champlain,  without  any  such  resources,  different  meth- 
ods must  be  sought.  He  must  venture  into  the  Friendship 
wilderness  with  a  handful  of  followers  and  as  lit-  Indian?  the 
tie  encumbrance  as  possible  of  any  sort.  There  g^esSui^ 
seemed  to  be  but  one  feasible  way  of  approaching  exploration 
this  problem,  and  this  was  to  cultivate  the  friendship  of  such 
native  tribes  as  might  be  most  serviceable  to  him  on  his 
long  routes.  By  assimilating  these  expeditions  to  journeys 
through  a  friendly  country  the  risks  might  be  greatly  dimin- 
ished, and  the  solid  results  indefinitely  increased. 


58  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

It  was  such  considerations  as  these  that  started  French 
policy  in  America  upon  the  path  which  it  was  destined 
thenceforth  to  follow  to  the  end.  It  was  a  choice  that  was 
fraught  with  disaster,  yet  it  would  be  unjust  to  blame  Cham- 
plain  for  that.  Nothing  short  of  omniscience  could  have 
looked  forward  through  the  tangle  of  wilderness  politics  that 
seems  so  simple  to  us  looking  backward.  For  Champlain' s 
purposes  his  choice  was  natural  and  sagacious,  but  as  to  the 
particular  people  with  whom  he  should  ally  himself  he  can 
hardly  be  said  to  have  had  any  choice.  Grim  destiny  had 
This  condi-  already  selected  his  allies.  The  valley  of  the  St. 
m°nesethe"  Lawrence  was  the  route  for  the  fur-trade,  and 
subsequent  friendship  must  be  preserved  with  the  tribes  along 
p°licy  its  banks  and  inward  on  the  way  to  those  great 

seas  of  which  Champlain  had  heard.  The  tribes  on  the  St. 
Lawrence  were  Algonquins  whom  the  French  called  Mon- 
tagnais,  but  who  were  afterward  known  as  Adirondacks  to 
the  English  of  New  York.  They  were  less  intelligent  and 
more  barbarous  than  the  Iroquois.  Agriculture  and  village 
Character  ^e  were  but  slightly  developed  among  them,  they 
dLnsfo1/1"  were  more  dependent  upon  hunting  and  fishing,  and 
Canada  as  they  showed  less  foresight  in  storing  provisions 
for  the  winter  their  numbers  were  more  frequently  depleted 
by  famine  and  disease.  Farther  up  the  great  river  and  com- 
manding the  northwestern  trails  were  the  Ottawas,  another 
Algonquin  people  considerably  more  advanced  than  the  Mon- 
tagnais  ;  while  southerly  from  the  Ottawas  and  bordering  on 
the  Georgian  Bay,  as  already  observed,  were  the  Hurons, 
who  rather  than  join  the  league  of  their  Iroquois  brethren 
preferred  to  maintain  a  sullen  independence,  and  to  this  end 
kept  up  an  alliance  with  their  Algonquin  neighbours.  For 
such  conduct  the  Hurons  were  denounced  by  the  confeder- 
ated Iroquois  as  the  vilest  of  traitors. 

Thus  the  allies  marked  out  for  Champlain  and  his  colony 
were  the  neighbouring  Algonquins  and  the  Hurons.     It  was 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    QUEBEC  59 

absolutely  necessary  that  friendship  with  these  tribes  should 
be  maintained.  In  the  autumn  of  1608  Champlain  learned 
that  it  was  in  his  power  to  do  them  a  signal  favour.    „, 

Champlain 

A  young  Ottawa  chief  who  happened  to  visit  Quebec   allies  him- 

.  .  .  .  self  to  the 

was  astounded  at  its  massive  wooden  architecture  ottawas 
and  overwhelmed  with  awe  at  the  voice  of  the  can- 
non and  the  distant  effects  wrought  by  their  bullets.  Could 
not  these  weird  strangers  be  induced  to  hurl  their  thunders 
and  lightnings  at  the  insolent  enemy  of  the  Algonquins  ? 
The  suggestion  suited  Champlain's  love  of  adventure  as  well 
as  his  policy.  It  was  an  excellent  means  of  getting  access 
to  the  Ottawa's  country.  Late  in  the  following  June  the 
woods  about  Quebec  resounded  with  the  yells  of  three  hun- 
dred newly  arrived  Hurons  and  Ottawas  impatient  to  start 
on  such  an  expedition  as  these  forests  had  never  witnessed 
before.  It  is  a  pity  that  we  have  no  account  of  it  from  the 
red  man's  point  of  view ;  it  is  fortunate,  however,  that  we 
have  such  a  narrative  as  Champlain's  own. 

On  the  28th  of  June,  1609,  after  the  customary  feast  and 
war  dance,  they  started  from  Quebec,  some  three  to  four 
hundred  barbarians  in  bark  canoes,  and  Champlain 
with  eleven  other  Frenchmen,  clad  in  doublets 
protected  with  light  plate  armour,  and  armed  with  arquebuses, 
in  a  shallop,  which  the  Indians  assured  Champlain  could  pass 
without  serious  hindrance  to  the  end  of  their  route.  The 
weapons  of  the  red  men  were  stone  arrows,  lances,  and  toma- 
hawks, but  already  there  were  many  sharp  French  hatchets 
to  be  seen  which  had  been  bought  with  beaver  skins.  Their 
route  lay  across  that  broad  stretch  of  the  St.  Lawrence  known 
as  Lake  St.  Peter,  to  the  river  which  a  generation  later  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Richelieu.  There  they  paused  for  some 
fishing  and  feasting,  and  something  happened  which  has  been 
characteristic  of  savage  warfare  in  every  age.  A  fierce  quarrel 
broke  out  among  the  Indians,  and  three  fourths  of  the  whole 
number  quit  the  scene  in  a  towering  passion  and  paddled 


60       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

away  for  their  northern  homes.  The  depleted  war  party, 
taking  a  fresh  start,  soon  reached  the  rapids  and  carrying- 
place  above  Chambly,  and  there  it  was  found  that  the  shal- 
lop could  go  no  farther,  since  she  could  not  stem  the  rapids, 
and  was  too  heavy  to  be  carried.  Why  the  Indians  had 
misinformed  their  white  ally  on  this  point  it  would  be  hard 
to  say.  Perhaps  the  inborn  love  of  hoaxing  may  have  pre- 
vailed over  military  prudence,  or  perhaps  they  may  have  en- 
tertained misplaced  notions  of  the  Frenchman's  supernatural 
powers.  At  all  events,  the  shallop  must  go  back  to  Quebec, 
but  Champlain  decided  to  go  forward  in  a  canoe,  and  from 
his  men  he  selected  two  volunteers  as  companions.  After 
they  had  passed  the  portage  there  was  a  grand  roll-call, 
and  it  was  found  that  the  total  force  was  four  and  twenty 
canoes  carrying  sixty  feathered  warriors  and  the  three  white 
men. 

As  they  approached  the  noble  lake  which  now  bears  the 
name  of  Champlain,  but  was  long  known  as  Lake  of  the  Iro- 
quois, their  movements  became  more  circumspect,  they  sent 
scouts  in  advance,  and  occasionally  they  consulted  the  tutelar 
Consuita-  spirits  of  departed  Algonquin  and  Huron  heroes. 
departed  To  the  pious  Champlain  this  sort  of  invocation 
heroes  seemed  like  an  uncanny  attempt  to  raise  the  Devil, 

but  he  observed  it  narrowly  and  described  it  fully,  according 
to  his  custom.  A  small  circular  tent  was  raised,  of  saplings 
covered  with  deer-skins,  and  into  it  crawled  the  medicine- 
man, with  shudders  and  groans,  and  drew  together  the  skins 
which  curtained  him  off  from  the  spectators.  Then  the  voice 
of  the  tutelar  spirit  was  heard  in  a  thin  shrill  squeak,  like  that 
of  a  Punch  and  Judy  show,  and  if  the  manifestation  were 
thoroughly  successful  the  frail  tent  was  rocked  and  swayed 
hither  and  thither  with  frantic  energy.  This  motion  was 
thought  by  the  awe-struck  spectators  to  be  the  work  of  the 
spirits,  but  the  scoffing  Champlain  tells  us  that  he  caught 
several  distinct  glimpses  of  a  human  fist  shaking  the  poles, 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF   QUEBEC  61 

—  which  would  seem  to  be  a  way  that  spirits  have  had  in 
later,  as  in  earlier  times. 

As  the  war  party  came  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  enemy's 
country  they  took  more  pains  in  scouting,  and  at  last  they 
advanced  only  by  night.  As  the  sky  reddened  in  Lake 
the  morning  they  would  all  go  ashore,  draw  up  Champiain 
their  canoes  under  the  bushes,  and  slumber  on  the  carpet 
of  moss  and  pine-needles  until  sunset ;  then  they  would 
stealthily  embark  and  briskly  ply  the  paddles  until  dawn.  It 
was  on  the  29th  of  July,  a  full  month  after  leaving  Quebec, 
that  they  were  approaching  the  promontory  since  famous 
under  its  resounding  Iroquois  name  of  Ticonderoga,  or 
"meeting of  the  waters,"  since  there  Lake  George  is  divided 
only  by  a  thin  strip  of  land  from  Lake  Champiain  ;  as  they 
were  approaching  this  promontory  late  in  the  evening  they 
descried  a  dark  multitude  of  heavy  elm-bark  canoes  which 
were  at  once  recognized  as  Iroquois.  Naval  battles  are  not 
to  the  red  man's  taste.  The  Iroquois  landed  at  once  and 
began   building    a    barricade,    while    the    invaders 

War  dances 

danced  a  scornful  jig  in  their  canoes,  and  the  very 
air  was  torn  asunder  with  yells.  All  night  the  missiles  in 
vogue  were  taunts  and  jeers,  with  every  opprobrious  and 
indecent  epithet  that  the  red  man's  gross  fancy  could  devise. 
Early  in  the  morning  the  invaders  landed,  all  except  the 
Frenchmen,  who  lay  at  full  length,  covered  with  skins. 
There  was  no  thought  of  tactics.  The  landing  was  unop- 
posed, though  the  enemy  were  at  least  three  to  one.  There 
were  as  many  as  200  of  them,  all  Mohawks,  tall,  lithe,  and 
many  of  them  handsome,  the  best  fighters  in  the  barbaric 
world.  In  the  ordinary  course  of  things  the  invaders  would 
have  paid  dearly  for  their  rashness.  As  it  was,  their  hearts 
began  to  quake,  and  they  called  aloud  for  Champiain.  Then 
he  arose  and  coolly  stepped  ashore  before  the  astounded 
Mohawks,  while  his  two  comrades  moving  to  a  flank  posi- 
tion  stationed   themselves  among  the  trees.     Half  palsied 


62  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

with  terror  at  this  supernatural  visitation,  the  Mohawks 
behaved  like  staunch  men,  and  raised  their  bows  to  shoot, 
when  a  volley  from  Champlain's  arquebus,  into  which  he  had 

stuffed  four  balls,  instantly  slew  two  of  their  chiefs 
Mohawks  and  wounded  another.  A  second  fatal  shot,  from 
stricken  by     one   of    the   other    Frenchmen,   decided   the  day. 

The  Mohawks  turned  and  fled  in  a  panic,  leaving 
many  prisoners  in  Algonquin  hands.  Most  of  these  poor 
wretches  were  carried  off  to  the  Huron  and  Ottawa  coun- 
tries, to  be  slowly  burned  to  death  for  the  amusement  of  the 
squaws  and  children.  There  was  an  intention  of  indulging 
to  some  extent  in  this  pastime  on  the  night  following  the 
victory,  but  Champlain  put  a  stop  to  it.  The  infliction  of 
torture  was  a  sight  to  which  he  was  not  accustomed ;  at  the 
hissing  of  the  live  flesh  under  the  firebrand  he  could  not 
contain  himself,  but  demanded  the  privilege  of  shooting  the 
prisoner,  and  his  anger  was  so  genuine  and  imperative  that 
the  barbarians  felt  obliged  to  yield.  After  this  summer 
day's  work  there  was  a  general  movement  homewards.  It 
was  a  fair  average  specimen,  doubtless,  of  warfare  in  the 
Stone  Age  ;  a  long,  desultory  march,  a  random  fight,  a  few 
deaths  on  the  field  and  a  few  more  at  the  stake,  and  nothing 
definitely  accomplished. 

This  last  remark,  however,  will  not  apply  to  Champlain's 
first  forest  fight.  A  specimen  of  the  Stone  Age  in  all  other 
particulars,  it  was  in  one  particular  —  the  presence  of  the 
three  Frenchmen  —  entirely  remote  from  the  Stone  Age. 
In  that  one  particular  it  not  only  accomplished  something 
definite,  but  it  marked  an  epoch.  Of  the  many  interesting 
military  events  associated  with  Ticonderoga  it  seems  the 
most  important.  There  was  another  July  day,  149  years 
later,  when  a  battle  was  fought  at  Ticonderoga  in  which 
20,000  men  were  engaged  and  more  than  2000  were  killed 
and  wounded.  That  battle,  in  which  Americans  and  Brit- 
ish  were  woefully  defeated  by   the  Marquis  cle  Montcalm, 


64  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

was  a  marvellous  piece  of  fighting,  but  it  is  now  memorable 
This  battle  onty  ^or  *ts  Pr°digies  of  valour  which  failed  to 
began  a         redeem  the  dulness  of  the  English  general.     It  de- 

deadly 

hostility  be-    cided  nothing,  and  so  far  as  any  appreciable  effect 

twccn  the 

French  and  upon  the  future  was  concerned,  it  might  as  well 
tie  roquois  ^  ^ave  been  fought.  But  the  little  fight  of  1609, 
in  which  a  dozen  or  more  Indians  were  killed,  marks  with 
strong  emphasis  the  beginning  of  the  deadly  hostility  be- 
tween the  French  in  Canada  and  the  strongest  Indian  power 
on  the  continent  of  North  America.  In  all  human  proba- 
bility the  breach  between  Frenchmen  and  Iroquois  would  in 
any  case  have  come  very  soon ;  it  is  difficult  to  see  what 
could  have  prevented  it.  But  in  point  of  fact  it  actually  did 
begin  with  Champlain's  fight  with  the  Mohawks. 

On  the  July  day  when  the  Frenchman's  thunder  and 
lightning  so  frightened  those  dusky  warriors,  a  little  Dutch 
vessel  named  the  Half-Moon,  with  an  English  captain,  was 
at  anchor  in  Penobscot  Bay,  while  the  ship's  carpenter  was 
cutting  and  fitting  a  new  foremast.  A  few  weeks  later  the 
Half-Moon  dropped  anchor  above  the  site  of  Troy  and  within 
the  very  precincts  over  which  the  warriors  of  the  Long 
House  kept  watch.  How  little  did  Henry  Hudson  imagine 
what  a  drama  had  already  been  inaugurated  in  those  leafy 
solitudes  !  A  few  shots  of  an  arquebus  on  that  July  morn- 
ing had  secured  for  Frenchmen  the  most  dangerous  enemy 
and  for  Dutchmen  and  Englishmen  the  most  helpful  friend 
that  the  mysterious  American  wilderness  could  afford. 


CHAPTER    III 

THE    LORDS    OF    ACADIA.  LATER    HISTORY     OF    CHAMPLAIN 

We  must  now  turn  our  attention  for  a  moment  from  Que- 
bec to  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  where  it  will  be  remembered  that 
the  withdrawal  of  the  monopoly  once  granted  to  Monts  had 
for  the  moment  brought  things  to  a  standstill.  While  Monts 
and  Champlain  had  forthwith  renewed  their  labours  on  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  Poutrincourt  had  clung    „ 

0     Poutnn- 

to  his  beloved  settlement  at  Port  Royal.  Thither  court  re- 
he  returned  in  1 6 1  o  with  a  good  priest  who  con-  Port  Royal, 
verted  and  baptized  the  squalid  Micmacs  of  the 
neighbourhood,  and  then  found  it  hard  to  restrain  them  from 
testing  the  efficacy  of  their  new  religion  by  sallying  forth 
with  their  tomahawks  against  the  nearest  heathen  tribes.  A 
certified  list  of  baptisms  was  drawn  up,  and  Poutrincourt's 
son,  usually  known  by  the  family  name  of  Biencourt,  return- 
ing next  year  to  France  for  assistance,  carried  with  him  this 
list  as  a  partial  justification  of  the  enterprise.  Arriving  in 
Paris,  the  gallant  young  sailor  found  the  world  turned  topsy- 
turvy. The  great  Henry  had  been  murdered  by  Ravaillac. 
"  Never  was  king  so  much  lamented  as  this,"  says  James 
Howell  in  one  of  his  letters.1  The  effects  upon  Europe 
were  far-reaching,  and  in  the  New  France,  which  had  as  yet 
been  scarcely  more  than  half  ushered  into  existence,  a  new 
and  unexpected  turn  was  given  to  the  course  of  events. 

The  society  of  the  Jesuits,  which  began  in  the  year  1 5  34 
with  seven  members,  had  now  come  to  number  not  less  than 
7000,  and  it  was  everywhere  recognized  as  one  of  the  most 
1  Howell's  Fa7niliar  Letters,  i.  49. 


66  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

powerful  agencies  of  the  counter-reformation.     In  many  di- 
rections its  influence  was  beneficial,  but  there  can 

Remoter 

conse-  be  no  doubt  as  to  its  disastrous  results  in  France, 

the  death  of   The  dagger  of  Ravaillac  pointed  the  way  to  the 
enry  discontinuance  of  the  States-General,  the  expatria- 

tion of  the  Huguenots,  the  wasting  warfare  of  the  last  days 
of  Louis  XIV.,  the  degrading  despotism  of  the  next  reign, 
and  the  ruthless  surgery  of  the  guillotine.  Such  were  the 
cumulative  results  of  the  abandonment  of  the  broad  and  noble 
policy  inaugurated  by  Henry  in  1598.  At  the  time  of  his 
death  they  were  of  course  too  remote  to  be  foreseen,  but  it 
was  clear  to  everybody  that  the  power  of  the  Jesuits  was 
rapidly  growing,  and  it  was  dreaded  by  many  people  for  its 
ultramontane  and  Spanish  tendencies. 

At  that  time  the  spirit  of  propaganda  was  very  strong 
among  the  Jesuits  ;  they  aimed  at  nothing  short  of  the  con- 
The  far-  version  of  the  world,  and  displayed  in  the  work  such 
Tn^of  the  ener&y>  suc^  ability,  such  unalloyed  devotion  as 
Jesuits  the  world  has  never  seen  surpassed.     As  early  as 

1 549  St.  Francis  Xavier  had  penetrated  to  the  remotest  East 
and  set  up  a  flourishing  church  in  Japan.  Before  the  death 
of  Claudio  Aquaviva  in  161 5  they  had  made  their  way  into 
China.  They  had  already  established  Christian  communities 
in  Brazil,  and  about  this  time  began  their  ever  memorable 
work  among  the  Indians  of  Paraguay.  It  was  quite  in  the 
natural  course  of  things  that  they  should  include  New  France 
in  their  far-reaching  plans.  From  Henry  IV.  they  obtained 
but  slight  and  grudging  recognition,  but  his  death  for  a  mo- 
ment threw  the  reins  quite  into  their  hands.  There  is  some- 
thing irresistibly  funny  in  the  alliance  of  the  three  women 
who  made  the  success  of  the  Jesuits  their  especial  care,  when 
one  thinks  of  their  various  relations  with  the  lamented  king, 
—  Marie  de  Medicis,  the  miserable  and  faithless  queen ; 
Henriette  d'Entraigues,  the  vile  mistress  ;  and  Antoinette, 
the  admirable  Marchioness  de  Guercheville,   whom   Henry 


LA 

CONVERSION 

DES   SAVVAGES 

QVI    ONT    ESTE'. ba- 
ptizes   EN    LA    lS[OVVELLE 
France,  certeanneeKJio. 

tAVEC  FIX   BREF   T^ECIT 

d<*  njoyage  da  Sieur  D  e 

Po  VTRl  NC  O  VRT. 


?#iS#N 


A  PARIS, 

Chez  Iean   Millot,  tenant  fa  boutique  fur 
les  degrcz  do  la  grand' Salle  du  Palais. 

.  ***  ^A^ec  Primleo-e  duRoy, 


TITLE    OF    LESCARBOT'S    "  LA    CONVERSION" 


LETTRE  MISSI- 

VE,  TOVCHANT  ]LA 
Conversion  et  14  p- 
tcfme  du  grand  Sagamos  dc 
lanouucllc  Frace,qui  en  eftoir 
auparauantTarriueedes  Fran- 
cois le  chef  &c  fouuerain. 

Vomenant  fa  promeffe  (fatpenet  fes  fabittf 

a  la  mefme  Conuerfion>Quks  J  centrum* 

dre  par  la  force  its  amies* 

Enuoyce  du  Port  Royal.dc  la  notiucllc 

France  au  S*  de  la Tronchaie^dattec 

du  iS.Iuin  1610, 


A     PARIS, 

Chez  I  e  a  n  R  e  g  n  o  v  l,  rue  du  Foi&; 
prcs  faind  Yucs. 

—  '  '       "■'■ >»>«<*» 

1  6  1  o. 
t/f mc  gcrtmfs'iM*, 


TITLE    OF    BEKTRAND'S    "  LETTRE    MISSIVE" 


THE    LORDS    OF    ACADIA 


69 


had  wooed  in  vain.     The  zealous  fathers  might  well  believe 
that  Satan  and  the  good  angels  were  alike  enlisted 

They  secure 

in   their   behalf.     Young   Biencourt  soon  learned   an  interest 

that  resistance  was  useless.     It  was  in  vain  that 

the  merchants  of  Dieppe,  who  were   fitting  out  a  new  ex- 


r©>     .-"Trv 


^ 


ANTOINETTE,   MARCHIONESS    OF   GUERCHEVILLE 


pedition  for  America,  protested  that  they  would  have  no 
Jesuit  priests,  or  other  agents  of  the  king  of  Spain,  on  board. 
Madame  de  Guercheville  forthwith  raised  money  by  subscrip- 


yo  NEW   FRANCE   AND   NEW   ENGLAND 

tion,  and  bought  a  controlling  interest  in  the  business.  So 
the  Jesuits  came  to  Port  Royal,  and  bitter  were  the  disputes 
which  they  had  with  Poutrincourt  and  his  high-spirited  son 
Biencourt.  An  Indian  sagamore  of  the  neighbourhood,  who 
loved  these  old  friends,  the  grantees  and  true  lords  of  Port 
Royal,  came  forward  one  day  with  a  suggestion  for  simplify- 
ing the  situation  and  securing  a  quiet  life.  Provided  he 
could  be  sure  it  would  be  agreeable,  he  would  take  great 
pleasure  in  murdering  the  newcomers  !  To  his  surprise  this 
friendly  service  was  declined.  The  grantees  found  that  there 
was  no  contending  against  money.  Loans  were  offered  to 
Poutrincourt  in  emergencies  when  he  had  not  the  courage 
to  refuse  them,  and  thus  a  load  of  debt  was  created,  with 
the  result  that  on  his  next  visit  to  France,  in  1613,  he  was 
thrown  into  prison. 

At  that  juncture  a  ship  bearing  the  inauspicious  name  of 
Jonas  was  fitted  up  with  Jesuit   money  and  manned  by  per- 
sons  entirely   in   the   interest  of  that   order.     Madame  de 
Guercheville   had   bought   out  all   the   rights  and 

Madame  de  °  ° 

Guerche-       claims  of  Monts  to  lands  in  Acadia,  and   she  had 

ville  obtains  .  . 

a  grant  of  also  obtained  from  the  boy  king,  Louis  Xlll.,  a 
from  Acadia  grant  of  all  the  territory  between  the  river  St.  Law- 
to  Florida  rence  ancj  Florida.  Here  was  a  grant  that  came 
into  direct  conflict  with  that  which  James  I.  of  England  had 
given  only  six  years  before  to  his  great  double-headed  Vir- 
ginia Company.  According  to  this  New  French  charter 
the  settlers  at  Jamestown  were  mere  trespassers  upon  terri- 
tory over  which  Madame  de  Guercheville  was  lady  para- 
mount !     Would  she  venture  to  claim  their  allegiance  ? 

Nothing  nearly  so  bold  was  attempted  ;    but   when   the 
Jonas  arrived  on  the  Acadian  coast,  the  chief  of  the  expedi- 
tion, a  gentleman  of  the  court  named  La  Saussaye, 

La  Saussaye 

in  French-     set  up  a  standard  bearing  Madame  de  Guerche- 

ville's  coat  of  arms.     At  Port  Royal  he  picked  up 

a  couple  of  Jesuits  and  thence  stood  for  Penobscot  Bay,  but 


jS^muip^aff 


THE    LORDS    OF   ACADIA  71 

first  he  entered  Frenchman's  Bay  at  Mount  Desert,  and 
dropped  anchor  there,  for  the  place  attracted  him.  Pre- 
sently a  spot  was  found  so  charming  that  it  was  decided  to 
make  a  settlement  there.  It  was  on  the  western  shore  of 
Somes  Sound,  between  Flying  Mountain  and  Fernald  Cove. 
Scarcely  had  work  begun  there 
when  a  sloop  of  war  came  into 
the  sound  carrying  fourteen 
guns,  and  at  her  masthead  was 
flying  the  little  red  flag  of  England.  She  was  commanded 
by  young  Captain  Samuel  Argall,  who  had  come  all  the  way 
from  James  River  to  fish  for  cod,  but  incidentally  Sir  Thomas 
Dale,  who  was  then  governing  Virginia  under  the  title  of 
High  Marshal,  had  instructed  him  to  look  out  for  any  French- 
men who  might  have  ventured  to  trespass  upon  the  terri- 
tory granted  by  King  James  to  the  Virginia  Company.  Argall 
had  picked  up  some  Indians  in  Penobscot  Bay  who  told  him 
of  the  white  men  at  Mount  Desert,  and  from  their  descrip- 
tions he  recognized  the  char- 
acteristic shrugs  and  bows  of 
Frenchmen.  When  his  flag 
appeared  in  Somes  Sound,  the 
French  commander  La  Saus- 
saye,  with  some  of  the  more  timid  ones,  took  to  the  woods, 
but  a  few  bold  spirits  tried  to  defend  their  ship.    It 

The  French 

was  of  no  use.  After  two  or  three  raking  shots  the  captured  by 
English  boarded  and  took  possession  of  her.  The 
astute  Argall  searched  La  Saussaye's  baggage  until  he  found 
his  commission  from  the  French  government,  which  he 
quietly  tucked  into  his  pocket.  After  a  while  La  Saussaye, 
overcome  by  hunger,  emerged  from  his  hiding-place  and  was 
received  with  extreme  politeness  by  Argall,  who  expressed 
much  regret  for  the  disagreeable  necessity  under  which  he  had 
laboured.  It  was  a  pity  to  have  to  disturb  such  estimable 
gentlemen,  but  really  this  land  belonged  to  King  James  and 


72       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

not  to  King  Louis.  Of  course,  however,  the  noble  chevalier 
must  be  acting  under  a  royal  commission,  which  would  lay 
the  whole  burden  of  the  affair  upon  the  shoulders  of  King 
Argaii's  Louis  and  exonerate  the  officers  who  were  merely 
tnck  acting  under  orders.     So  spake  the  foxy  Argall, 

adding  with  his  blandest  smile  that,  just  as  a  matter  of  for- 
mal courtesy,  he  would  like  to  see  the  commission.  We  can 
fancy  the  smile  growing  more  grim  and  Mephistophelean 
as  the  bewildered  Frenchman  hunted  and  hunted.  When  at 
length  it  appeared  that  La  Saussaye  could  produce  no  such 
document,  Argall  began  to  bluster  and  swear.  He  called 
the  Frenchmen  pirates,  and  confiscated  all  their  property, 
scarcely  leaving  a  coat  to  their  backs.  Then,  as  he  had  not 
room  enough  for  all  the  prisoners,  he  put  La  Saussaye,  with 
one  of  the  Jesuit  fathers  and  thirteen  men,  into  an  open 
boat  and  left  them  to  their  fate,  which  turned  out  to  be  a 
kindly  one,  for  after  a  few  days  they  were  picked  up  by 
a  French  merchant  ship  and  carried  back  to  the  Old  World. 
As  for  the  other  Jesuit  father  with  thirteen  other  men, 
Argall  carried  them  to  Jamestown,  where  that  great  stickler 
for  martial  law,  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  was  inclined  to  hang  them 
all  without  ceremony  ;  but  the  wisdom  of  Master  Reynard 
was  Argaii's,  and  he  saw  that  this  would  be  going  too  far. 
It  might  make  serious  trouble  between  the  two  Crowns,  and 
would  tend  to  reveal  his  trickery  in  a  way  that  would  be 
awkward.  So  he  revealed  it  himself  to  Sir  Thomas  Dale, 
pulled  La  Saussaye 's  commission  from  his  pocket,  saved  the 
Argall  re-  nves  of  the  captives,  and  remained  master  of  the 
bims  Iport  situation.  Presently  he  sailed  for  the  north  again 
Royal  wjth  three  ships  and  burned  the  settlement  at  Port 

Royal,  destroying  the  growing  crops  and  carrying  away  the 
cattle  and  horses.  At  the  moment  of  the  catastrophe  Bien- 
court  and  most  of  his  armed  men  were  absent,  and  when 
they  returned  they  were  too  few  to  engage  with  Argall ;  so 
after  a  fruitless  parley  and  much  recrimination  the  English 


s,tt 


74  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

skipper  sailed  away.  Next  year  the  Baron  de  Poutrincourt 
was  slain  in  battle  in  France,  and  his  steadfast  son  Biencourt, 
succeeding  to  the  barony  and  the  title,  still  remained  devoted 
to  the  father's  beloved  Port  Royal.  He  obtained  fresh  re- 
cruits for  the  enterprise,  and  the  little  wooden  town  rose 
Phoenix-like  from  its  ashes.  At  the  French  court  there  was 
grumbling  over  the  conduct  of  Argall,  and  complaint  was 
made  to  King  James  ;  and  there  the  matter  rested. 

The  death  of  the  elder  Poutrincourt  occurred  in  1615. 
We  must  now  return  for  a  moment  to  1609  and  take  up  the 
story  of  Champlain  after  his  memorable  experience  at  Ticon- 
deroga.  In  June,  16 10,  he  was  called  upon  to  repeat  it  on 
Champlain  a  larger  scale.  A  party  of  100  Mohawks  had  ad- 
destnSion6  vanced  as  far  as  the  site  of  Contrecceur,  on  the 
of  an  attack-   peninsula  formed  there  by  the  St.  Lawrence  and 

ing  party  or     l  J 

Iroquois  the  Richelieu,  a  few  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the 
latter  river,  and  there  they  were  overwhelmed  by  a  large 
force  of  Algonquins  aided  by  a  dozen  Frenchmen.  The 
Mohawks,  driven  to  bay,  fought  until  only  fifteen  were  left 
alive.  These  were  taken  prisoners,  and  one  of  them  was 
surrendered  to  Champlain,  while  another  was  chopped  into 
fragments  and  eaten.  The  rest  were  put  to  death  with  slow 
fires  by  the  Algonquin  women,  who  in  this  respect,  Cham- 
plain tells  us,  are  much  more  inhuman  than  the  men,  "  for 
they  devise  by  their  cunning  more  cruel  punishments,  in 
which  they  take  pleasure,  putting  an  end  to  their  lives  by 
the  most  extreme  pains."  1 

After  this  second  taste  of  Indian  warfare  Champlain  re- 
turned to  France,  and  in  the  following  December  married  a 
young  girl,  Helen  Boulle,  daughter  of  one  of  the  late  king's 
private  secretaries.  Clearly  Champlain  was  now  no  Hugue- 
not, for  as  this  young  lady  was  somewhat  too  much  of  a 
Calvinist  he  left  her  for  a  while  in  the  following  spring  at  an 
Ursuline  convent,  where  she  might  learn  more  wholesome 
1    Voyages  of  Champlain,  ed.  Slafter,  ii.  246. 


LATER    HISTORY    OF    CHAMPLAIN 


PirttteptsKeqE.cie  £t  <3ef-  J  M  le  Hcu  ou  les  fittrtuges  1  Y  Praitie*  > 

fncher.  ■  paiTcut  leurs  carets  i  j»ar  !  j£  Petite  riuitrc 

B  rccjtcfbivj;  -ftrtc  du  colic  <iu  Note*      !  ,1  Ifies  atfezgrandes  ScbelJes. 

C  Petit  uicroa  ic  n<  faux';  N  Endroit  oil  vn  denos  gess  !  i.X-icux  quiddicouuret  qu~;d 

vnermu.»licdepis-::e,  i       &  rrHamiajre'ie  ncyereiir.  J      Its  cam  baifsct,  en;  iiiefai: 

D  PctittuiiTca-aouic  tkaiicc  !  O  Petit  ifict  cL- rockers,  j     grids  bouillooemeis, corg- 

les  barques.  ' ..  {  ?  Autre  ill.t  oa  ies  ovftaux  i    'nie  audi 

'£  Prairie*  ou  fe  rr.ettent  Jes  j     font  -eitrs  mi*. 
.    fauuages  quand    i!s  vien-      Q^  L'nlc.aax  herons.  . 

Bent  co  cc.payj.  j  R  Autre  ific  dans  lc  four; 

J  Mont.ngo«5    qui  furoifi  j  S  Petit  ill  t. 

feat  dans  letenes,  j  T  Petit  »{l<-t  ron-.-S.  ■ 

G  Pctitcftang.  j  V  Autre,  ifict  demy  touuc 

H  Mont  Royal.  t      tl'cau. 

?  Petit  ruiOVau.   , 
L  Le  fact. 


fart  «>du  foot, 
i  4  Prairies  pfaiues  d'cauir. 
j  5  Liens  fort  bas  ^c  J*u  is 

ton  is.  ■:■ 

!  5  Astre-  Petit  iilec. 
}  ?  Pen*  foihtt*. 
j  g  {{k-fai-xtHciainc.- 

Petit  iflet  acfgarovd'.irbres, 
'efcouietu 


X  Aatfc  iilet  ou  it  7  a  force  ;  3  Marttcsg 

ovfeaux  dermic  re  .  i      dans  Je^ratd  U 


champlain's  plan  of  port  royal 


opinions.  At  a  later  time  she  accompanied  him  to  Canada, 
but  he  was  not  yet  quite  ready  to  bring  her  to  such  a  place. 
On  his  next  return,  in  1611,  he  began  building  a  Christian 
city  on  the  site  of  the  old  Hochelaga.  Both  in  Beginnings 
the  interests  of  the  fur-trade  and  of  his  proposed  of  Montreal 
western  explorations  he  thought  it  best  to  have  an  available 
station  higher  up  the  river  than  Quebec.  The  site  where 
building  operations  were  begun  he  called  Place  Royale,  and 
on  a  part  of  it  the  Hospital  of  the  Gray  Nuns  was  after- 


76       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

wards  erected.  Scarcely  was  the  work  well  begun,  and  a 
few  substantial  walls  built,  when  Champlain  again  crossed 
the  ocean.  His  old  colleague  Monts  had  been  appointed 
governor  of  Pons,  an  important  place  near  Rochelle,  and 
could  no  longer  pay  attention  to  things  in  America.  He 
therefore  entrusted  everything  to  Champlain,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  in  order  to  give  to  his  enterprise  the  requisite 
dignity  and  protection  it  was  desirable  to  secure  as  patron 
some  personage  of  great  social  influence.  Such  a  person 
was  found  in  Charles  de  Bourbon,  Count  of  Soissons,  a 
prince  of  the  blood  royal,  who  was  made  viceroy  over  New 
France,  with  Champlain  for  his  lieutenant.  To  the  latter 
was  given  full  control  over  the  fur-trade.  This  arrangement 
was  scarcely  made  when  Soissons  died  and  a  still  greater 
The  Count  magnate  was  found  to  succeed  him,  —  namely, 
and  theS°nS  Henri  de  Bourbon,  Prince  of  Conde,  a  man  cele- 
Cond!  fuc-  Drated>  as  Voltaire  says,  for  having  been  the  father 
ceed  Monts  0f  the  great  Conde,  but  eminent  for  nothing  else 
save  petty  ambition  and  greed.  Champlain  had  come  to 
doubt  the  wisdom  of  too  exclusive  a  policy  of  monopoly,  and 
he  sought  to  organize  a  numerous  association  of  merchants 
in  the  seaport  towns.  During  this  arduous  work,  whenever 
some  little  assistance  at  court  was  wanted  the  Prince  of 
Conde  was  always  ready  to  absorb  the  spare  cash  as  a 
retaining  fee. 

There  was  so  much  to  be  done  that  Champlain  could  not 
leave  France  in  1612,  but  a  young  man  appeared  in  Paris 
with  such  a  story  about  his  experiences  in  the  New  World 
that  fashionable  society  had  an  unwonted  sensation.  The 
name  of  this  youth  was  Nicolas  de  Vignau.  Two  years  be- 
fore Champlain  had  let  him  go  home  with  a  party  of  Ottawas, 
in  order  to  learn  what  he  could  about  their  country  and  per- 
A  traveller's  naPs  to  inculcate  a  few  civilized  ideas  into  the  heads 
tale  of  their  warriors.    Now  Vignau  strutted  about  Paris 

with  the  story  that  he  had  seen  with  his  own  eyes  the  west- 


LATER   HISTORY    OF    CHAMPLAIN  77 

ern  ocean ;  at  all  events,  he  had  followed  the  river  Ottawa 
up  to  its  origin  in  a  lake,  whence  a  river  flowing  northward 
had  carried  him  down  to  the  sea.  On  its  shore  he  had  seen 
the  wreck  of  an  English  ship  and  the  heads  of  eighty  Eng- 
lishmen who  -had  been  massacred  by  the  natives !  It  is  not 
likely  that  this  story  was  pure  invention.  The  Ottawa  River 
has  its  sources  in  a  chain  of  small  lakes,  and  from  these 
a  group  of  rivers,  such  as  the  Moose  and  Abbittibi,  flow 
northward  into  James  Bay,  the  southeasternmost  portion  of 
the  vast  Hudson  Bay.  Vignau  may  very  well  have  heard  of 
this  route  and  have  coupled  with  it  some  vague  rumour  of 
the  mutiny  and  disaster  at  James  Bay  in  which  Henry  Hud- 
son lost  his  life  in  June,  1612.  The  plausibleness  of  his 
story  and  his  straightforward  manner  carried  conviction  to 
everybody,  to  Champlain  among  others ;  and  Champlain 
resolved  to  make  the  visiting  of  that  western  sea  the  chief 
work  of  the  summer  of  161 3. 

Late  in  May  he  started  from  the  island  opposite  Montreal, 
which  in  honour  of  the  wife  he  had  left  behind  he  called 
Helen's  Island.  He  had  two  canoes,  carrying,  besides  himself 
and  Vignau,  three  other  Frenchmen  and  one  Indian,  champlain 
Far  up  the  Ottawa  River  they  made  their  way,  with  oJJSJjjJ" 
fierce  and  sanguinary  opposition  from  the  mos-  l6l3 
quitoes,  of  which  Champlain  writes  with  most  lively  disgust, 
but  otherwise  without  unpleasant  experiences.  At  Allumette 
Island  they  came  to  a  thriving  Ottawa  village,  many  of  the 
inmates  of  which  had  never  seen  any  white  man  except  Vig- 
nau. After  the  usual  formalities  of  feasting  and  smoking, 
Champlain  addressed  the  warriors  in  the  kind  of  speech 
which  he  had  learned  that  they  liked,  and  concluded  by  ask- 
ing for  canoes  and  guides  to  take  him  farther  on,  even  to  the 
country  of  the  Nipissings.  But  here  he  read  in  the  faces  of 
his  hearers  that  he  had  touched  an  unpleasant  chord  ;  they 
were  not  on  good  terms  with  the  Nipissings.  The  old  chief- 
tain Tessouat,  who  replied,  gently  rebuked  Champlain  for  not 


78       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

having  been  at  Montreal  the  preceding  summer  to  take  part 
once  more  in  a  fight  against  the  Iroquois.  As  for  the  canoes, 
of  course  if  Champlain  wanted  them  he  should  have  them  ; 
but  oh,  those  Nipissings !  what  could  he  be  thinking  of  in 
wishing  to  go  to  them  ?  They  would  be  sure  to  kill  him  !  and 
what  a  day  of  mourning  for  every  true  Ottawa  that  would  be  ! 
On  Champlain's  further  representations  the  canoes  and  guides 
were  promised,  and  he  stepped  out  of  doors  to  get  a  breath 
of  fresh  air.  No  sooner  was  his  back  turned  than  the  assem- 
bled warriors  reconsidered  the  subject  and  decided  not  to 
grant  the  canoes.  A  message  to  this  effect  brought  him 
back  into  the  wigwam,  and  once  more  he  had  to  listen  to  the 
tale  of  Nipissing  depravity.  Naturally  he  pointed  to  Vignau 
and  observed  that  here  was  a  man  who  had  been  to  the  Nip- 
issings and  had  not  found  them  quite  so  black  as 

Vignau's  # 

imposture      they   were   painted.     "Ah!"    exclaimed   old    Tes- 

discovered.  .  f       .  . 

souat,  turning  upon  the  wretched  impostor,  "  Nic- 
olas, did  you  tell  him  that  you  had  been  to  the  Nipissings  ?  " 
It  was  a  terrible  moment  for  that  silly  young  man,  before 
that  scowling  company,  with  all  those  pairs  of  little  snake- 
like eyes  fixed  savagely  upon  him.  It  mattered  little  whether 
he  answered  yes  or  no  ;  but  after  some  moments  of  silence 
he  replied  stoutly  that  he  had  been  there.  Angry  shouts  of 
"  Liar !  "  arose ;  for  Vignau  had  really  spent  his  whole  winter 
in  this  very  village,  and  everybody  present  knew  it.  Effront- 
ery was  of  no  avail ;  he  was  plied  with  sarcastic  queries  which 
left  him  dumb  and  bewildered.  Then  quoth  Champlain, 
"  Look  here,  Vignau,  if  you  have  told  me  lies  I  will  forgive 
what  is  past,  but  I  insist  that  you  tell  the  truth  now,  and  if  you 
fail  me  you  shall  be  hanged  on  the  spot."  For  a  moment 
more  the  young  rascal  hesitated,  then  fell  upon  his  knees 
and  confessed  the  whole.  The  Indians  begged  to  be  allowed 
to  kill  him,  but  Champlain  kept  his  word,  and  the  worthless 
life  was  spared.  There  was  no  further  talk  of  canoes,  and 
our  hero  returned  somewhat  crestfallen  to  Montreal. 


LATER    HISTORY   OF    CHAMPLAIN  79 

[Later  in  the  season  Champlain  took  ship  for  France,  where 
he  enlisted  the  interest  of  the   Recollet  friars  in   champlain 
the  establishment  of  missions  among  the  Indians.    }f0^ns 
Armed  with  a  royal  patent  and  the  authorization  of   ^\^c^e 
the  Pope,  he   returned   to   Canada   in   the   spring    Recoiiets 
of  1 6 1 5 ,  accompanied  by  four  friars,  whose  singular  garb  at 
first  greatly  astonished  their  prospective  flock. 

One  of  these  missionaries,  Le  Caron,  leaving  his  brethren 
at  Quebec,  went  on  to  Montreal,  where  he  found  the  yearly 
gathering  of  Indian  fur-traders.     Champlain  appeared  a  few 
days  later,  and  was  then  besought  by  the  throng  of  Hurons 
to  join  them  in  an  attack  upon  the  Iroquois.     Yielding  to 
these  solicitations,  he  returned  to  Quebec  for  equipment.     In 
the  mean  time  Le  Caron  went  on  with  Indians,    LeCaron 
making  his  way  in  a  northwesterly  direction  until    LakeeS 
he,  the  first  of  white  men,  gazed  on  the  great  Fresh    Huron 
Water  Sea  of  the  Hurons.     Not  many  days  later,  Champlain 
arrived  at  the  Huron  villages  and  rejoined  Le  Caron,  and 
on  August  12  the  first  Christian  service  was  held. 

Hardly  was  the  work  of  the  church  in  this  abode  of  evil 
spirits  begun  with  these  solemn  rites  before  attention  was 
directed  to  the  worldly  project  which  the  Hurons  had  most  at 
heart.  Champlain  reached  the  chief  village  of  the  Hurons, 
Cahiague,  the  17th  of  August.  Feasts  and  war  dances  filled 
the  hours  of  waiting  till  all  the  bands  were  gathered,  and 
then,  crossing  Lake  Simcoe,  the  Indians,  accompanied  by  a 
handful  of  Frenchmen  under  the  intrepid  Champlain,  pushed 
on  rapidly  by-lakes  and  the  river  Trent  to  Lake  Ontario. 

Boldly  venturing  upon  this  inland  sea  in  their  frail  craft, 
they  safely  reached  the  other  shore.    A  few  days' 

J  J  J  The  attack 

march  brought  them  to  the  Iroquois  village,1  where    on  the 

their  first  rash   attack  was  successfully  repelled, 

but  at  the   sound   of  French   muskets   and   the  hissing  of 

1  [The  situation  of  this  fortified  town  of  the  Iroquois  has  been  the 
subject  of  no  little  discussion.      For  the  various  views,  see  Winsor, 


8o 


NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 


the  bullets  the  pursuing  Iroquois  fell  back  and  sought  pro- 
tection within  the  palisades  of  their  town. 

To  enable  an  effective  assault  to  be  made  upon  these 
defences  Champlain  had  a  movable  tower  built,  from  which 
sharp-shooters  could  pick  off  Iroquois  behind  the  palisades  ; 


VIEW    OF    IROQUOIS   VILLAGE    AND    CHAMPLAIN    TOWER 


and  also  large  shields  to  protect  the  assailing  party  from 
arrows  and  stones,  in  their  efforts  to  set  fire  to  the  palings. 
Cham-  But  the   excitement  of  battle  was  too  much   for 

military  these  undisciplined  hordes.  They  threw  away  the 
engines  shields,  rent  the  air  with  cries  which  made  it  im- 
possible for  Champlain  to  be  heard,  and  in  their  haste  lighted 

Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist.,  iv.  125;  Parkman,  Pioneers  of  France  in  the 
New  World,  p.  402.] 


ALLEMAN 


SVPERIEVR  DELA  MIS- 

fion  de  Canadas^de  laCom-: 

pagnicde  Iesvs. 

Enuoyee  au  Pere  Hierofme  fAUemant 
Jonfrerey  de  la  mefme  Compagnie 

Cu  foncconcenus  les  moeurs&facons  de  vi* 

urc  des  Sauuages  habitans  de  ce  palslij 

&*  comme  lis  fe  component  aucc 

les  Chreftiens  Franjois  qui  y 

demeurent. 

Pnfemble  la  description  des  <viiles  de  ceftt  contrw* 


A        PARIS,, 
Par  Iean   B  o  v  che  k,  iuc  des  Amandiers 
a  la  Verice  Royale,  x  6 z  7. 


TITLE    OF    L'ALLEMANT!S    "LETTRJ 


82       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

the  fires  on  the  lee  side  of  the  stockade,  where  they  were 
quickly  put  out  by  the  water  poured  down  by  the  defenders. 
After  three  hours  of  aimless  and  ineffectual  struggle  the 
Hurons  fell  back  discouraged.  Nor  was  Champlain  able  to 
rouse  them  to  another  set  attack.  They  refused  to  stir 
unless  they  should  be  reinforced  by  some  expected  allies. 
These  failing  to  arrive,  the  defeated  Hurons  gave  up  the 
contest  and  stole  off,  carrying  their  wounded  in  baskets  upon 
their  backs.  They  found  their  canoes  unharmed,  and  safely 
recrossed  the  lake,  but  Champlain,  greatly  to  his  chagrin, 
was  unable  to  induce  the  leaders  to  fulfil  their  promise  to 
conduct  him  back  to  Quebec.  At  the  last  he  was  fain  to 
accept  the  shelter  of  the  lodge  of  a  Huron  chief.  After 
some  months  spent  in  hunting,  exploration,  and  the  obser- 
vation of  Huron  manners,  Champlain  returned  to  Quebec, 
where  he  was  received  as  one  from  the  dead. 

Champlain's  plans  to  found  a  colony  were  in  conflict  with 
the  commercial  interests  of  the  company  of  merchants  who 
controlled  the  fortunes  of  New  France.  For  them  the  fur- 
trade  was  the  chief  concern,  and  the  growth  of  settlement 
could  but  diminish  the  profitableness  of  this  commerce.  As 
a  trading-post  Quebec  was  a  success,  but  the  lapse  of  eight 
years  from  its  beginnings  saw  only  two  farms  in  cultivation, 
Rivalry  of  one  by  tne  Rec°Uet  friars,  the  other  by  Louis  He- 
interests  bert,  who  brought  his  wife  and  children  to  Quebec 
in  1617,  and  established  the  first  Christian  household  in  Can- 
ada. In  1620  Champlain  brought  his  own  young  wife  to 
Quebec,  where  she  devoted  herself  with  the  zeal  of  a  young 
convert  to  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  Indian  women  and 
children.  These  four  years  of  missionary  apprenticeship 
seemed  to  have  kindled  her  piety  to  such  a  flame  that  nothing 
would  satisfy  her  but  retirement  from  the  world,  and  after 
her  husband's  death  she  became  a  nun. 

In  162 1  the  merchants  of  St.  Malo  and  Rouen,  owing  to 
repeated  complaints,  were  ordered  to  give  place  to  two  Hu- 


LATER   HISTORY   OF    CHAMPLAIN  83 

guenot  merchants  named  De  Caen.  Their  refusal  brought  on 
quarrels  between  the  rival  traders,  and  in  weariness  at  these 
discords  Montmorency  sold  his  viceroyalty  of  New  France  to 
his  nephew  the  Duke  of  Ventadour,  whose  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  Canada  was  wholly  religious.  It  was  through  him 
that  the  order  of  the  Jesuits  embraced  New  France    ,„, 

■*  I  lie  corn- 

ill  the  world-wide  field  of  their  labours.     In  1625    ingof  the 

Lalemant,  Masse,  and  Brebeuf  began  the  work 
which  was  to  place  their  names  so  high  in  the  history  of 
Canada.  The  far-seeing  eye  of  Richelieu  was  now  directed 
to  the  possibilities  for  the  extension  of  French  power  in 
the  New  World,  and  the  wasted  opportunities  of  eighteen 
years  devoted  to  the  conflicting  interests  of  trade  and  re- 
ligion, which  had  left  Quebec  with  only  one  or  two  self- 
supporting  families,  and  at  most  a  motley  population  of  little 
over  one  hundred  persons,  convinced  the  great  minister 
that  a  radical  change  was  necessary.  He  abolished  the 
privileges  of  the  De  Caens,  and  formed  the  company  of  New 
France,  to  consist  of  one  hundred  members  with 

,  .  The  One 

himself  at  their  head.     To   this  body,  commonly    Hundred 

A  ssocintcs 

known  as  the  "  One   Hundred  Associates,"  were 
granted  the  political  control  of  all  of  New  France,  the  com- 
mercial monopoly  of  the  fur-trade  forever,  and  of  other  com- 
merce, except  whaling  and  cod-fishing,  for  fifteen  years,  for 
which  period  the  trade  of  the  colony  was  to  be  exempt  from 
taxation.      In  return,  the  Associates  must  settle  in  Canada 
during  these  fifteen  years  not  less  than  four  thousand  men 
and  women,  who  were  to  be  provided  with  cleared  lands  after 
three  years'  residence.      In   contrast   to  the   lax   unconcern 
with  which   for   the   most   part   England   saw  her   colonies 
peopled  with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  German  Pro- 
testants and  English  Catholics,  English  Puritans  and  Irish 
Papists,  New  France  was  henceforth  to  be  open    Reli  oug 
only  to  Catholics  and  Frenchmen.     To  attain  the   uniformity 
ideal   of    religious   unity   the   strongest   inducement   for  an 


84  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

energetic  and  progressive  population  to  migrate  was  relin- 
quished, and  the  interesting  possibility  of  the  growth  of  a 
Huguenot  New  France  side  by  side  with  a  Puritan  New 
England  was  rejected. 

Hardly  had  this  reorganization  been  effected  when,  through 
the  outbreak  of  war  between  England  and  France,  these  plans 
were  interrupted,  and  not  only  the  possession  but  even  the 
existence  of  the  colony  hung  in  the  balance.  The  new  com- 
pany despatched  four  armed  vessels  in  April,  1628,  under 
Roquemont,  one  of  their  number,  to  succour  the  distressed 
colonists,  and  simultaneously  Charles  I.  of  England  author- 
ized a  private  expedition,  patronized  by  London  merchants 
and  commanded  by  the  three  sons  of  their  associate,  Ger- 
vase  Kirke,  to  dislodge  the  French  from  Acadia  and  Canada. 
The  English  fleet  arrived  first,  but  Champlain's  sturdy  reso- 
lution and  the  apparent  strength  of  his  position  disconcerted 
them,  and  they  turned  back.  But  if  the  Kirkes  failed  to 
capture  Quebec,  the  blow  they  did  inflict  was  hardly  less 
serious,  for  they  overwhelmed  the  expedition  of  relief  led  by 
Roquemont,  and  the  feeble  garrison  dragged  through  another 
year  in  such  misery  that  Champlain  meditated  the  desertion 
of  Quebec  and  the  capture  of  some  Iroquois  village  where 
they  would  find  a  buried  store  of  corn.  Before  so  desperate 
a  plan  was  resolved  upon,  Captain  Kirke  reappeared,  this 
The  capture  time  to  secure  the  surrender  of  Quebec,  not  through 
by?heeEng-  tne  valour  of  his  attack,  but  through  the  despair  of 
llsh  its  holders.    The  English  possession,  however,  was 

short-lived.  Three  years  later,  in  accordance  with  the  treaty 
of  St.  Germain-en-Laye,  Canada  and  Acadia  were  restored  to 
France  in  response  to  a  demand  which  the  honour  of  France, 
the  personal  pride  of  Richelieu  as  the  head  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred Associates,  and  the  pious  urgency  of  Champlain  for  the 
conversion  of  the  savages,  all  combined  to  press.  In  1633 
Champlain  returned  to  Quebec  as  governor  under  commission 
from  the  One  Hundred  Associates.     For  a  brief  two  years 


D  E     LA 

NO  WELLE  FRANCE 

GCCIDENTALE,  DICTE 

CANADA, 

FAITSPAR  LE  S*  DE  CH AMPLAIN 

Xaindongcois,  Capicainc  pour  Ic  Roy  cn  UMarincdu 

Ponant,  Otolites  Ics  Dcfcouuertcs  qu'ila  fakes  en 

cc pais  dcpuis  Fan  1603.  iufquesen,ran  1G19. 

QufcvQitcommc  cepaysa  eftcpemierementdefcouuertj)  tries  Francois* 

jbus  I'dxthoritc  denos  Roys  tres-Chrettiens,  iufques  ah  rcgne 

deja  iJMmtUekprtftnt  regzante  LOFIS  XII 'I. 

Roy  de  France  (f  de  ^JSjuarre.-^ 

Aucc  vn  traittc  des  qualitcz  5c  conditions  requifes  a  vn  bon  &parfai&i^auigaceur 
pour  cognoiftrc  la  diuerfue  desEftimes  qui  fe  font  en  iaNauigatk>n»Lcs 
Marques  &  enfeigncments  que  la  prouidence  de  Dieu  a  mills  dans  les  Mcrs 
pour rcdrcflct les  Manniers en leur  routtc,  fans  leiquellcs  ils  tombcroicnt  en 
de  grands  dangers,  Et  la  maniere  de  biendrelfcr  Cartes  marines  aucc  ieurs 
Ports,  Radcs,  Iflcs,  Sondes,  3c  autre  chofe  ncceflaire  a  la Natugation. 

E*ftmhicv*t  Carte  reneralledela  defcripthn  dndit  fxysfai&t  en  [on  JMeridien  fcl«* 

U  deelinaifon  de  la  guide  Aymant^  vn  Catechifme  oh  Inftru&ton  traduiU* 

4t»  Frarfoij  *k  langage  des  feuples  Sunn  Ages  dequelque  contree^autd 

ce  (jut  'seft  pafli  en  Udtte  Noauelle  France  eh  tannic  1 6  3 1. 

A  MONSEIGNEVR   LE  CARDINAL    DVC   DE    RJCHELIEV. 


6M 

A     PARIS. 
Cbcz  Lpvis  Sbvesyiie  Iniprimcur-Librairc  rue  du  Meuricr  presla  Porte 

S.  Vj&or,  5c  en  fa  Boutique  dans  la  Cour  du  Palaisv 

M,      DC     X  XXII. 

jfttec  Frimltge  dn  ]\<y. 


TITLE    OF    CMAMPLAIN'S    "  LES    VOYAGES" 


86       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

more  he  guided  the  destinies  of  New  France.  His  days  of 
exploration  were  over,  and  his  mind  turned  more  and  more 

to  the  development  and  extension  of  the  missions, 
plain's  last     to  which  all  other  interests  were  now  subordinate. 

On  Christmas  day,  1635,  the  father  of  New  France 
passed  away.  Like  Bradford  and  Winthrop,  his  contempo- 
raries, he  was  not  only  the  brave,  patient,  and  wise  leader 
of  an  epoch-making  enterprise,  but  also  its  honest  and  dis- 
passionate historian.  Yet  this  was  not  all,  for  to-day  he  is 
not  less  remembered  as  the  adventurous  and  indefatigable 
explorer  and  the  curious  observer  of  savage  life  and  manners.1 
Recurring  now  to  the  rivalry  between  France  and  England 
for  the  possession  of  Acadia,  the  next  stage  to  be  noticed  is 
Tames  1  ^e  grant  of  that  region  in  1621  by  King  James  I. 
grants  Aca-    to  Sir  William  Alexander,  a  member  of  the  newly 

dia  to  Sir  '  J 

William  organized  Council  of  New  England,  to  be  held  under 
the  name  Nova  Scotia  as  a  fief  of  the  Crown  of  Scot- 
land. The  first  obstacle  to  the  establishment  of  his  sway  Sir 
William  found  in  the  French  occupants  under  the  leadership 
of  Biencourt.  At  Biencourt's  death  about  the  year  1623 
his  possessions  and  claims  fell  to  his  friend  and  companion, 
Charles  de  la  Tour.  In  1627  Charles  de  la  Tour  petitioned 
the  king  of  France  to  be  appointed  commandant  of  Acadia. 
His  messenger  was  his  own  father,  Claude  de  la 

Claude  and  . 

Charles  de.  Tour,  who,  upon  his  return  with  Roquemont  s  Que- 
bec relief  expedition,  was  captured  by  the  Kirkes 
and  carried  to  England.  Here,  being  a  Protestant,  he  re- 
nounced his  French  allegiance  and  entered  the  service  of 
Sir  William  Alexander,  who  made  him  a  baronet  of  Nova 
Scotia  in  1629. 

1  [Champlain's  works  are  easily  accessible  in  the  scholarly  collected 
edition  of  the  Abbe'  Laverdiere,  6  vols.,  Quebec,  1870.  An  English 
translation  of  his  Voyages  by  C.  P.  Otis  has  been  published  by  the 
Prince  Society  under  the  editorial  charge  of  Rev.  E.  F.  Slafter,  who 
has  added  a  memoir  and  extensive  notes.] 


LATER    HISTORY   OF    CHAMPLAIN 


87 


The  return  of  the  father  with  a  commission  from  England 
after  he  had  been  despatched  to  secure  one  from  France  pro- 
duced a  situation  which  has  appealed  alike  to  poet,    Legend  of 
historian,  and  novelist,  who  have  depicted  the  son   ^eiky'to* 
sternly  rejecting  the  father's  solicitations  to  change    France 
his  allegiance.    The  story  is  a  doubtful  one,  and  the  facts 


SIR    WILLIAM    ALEXANDER 


seem  to  be  that  La  Tour  adapted  himself  to  the  changes  in 
the  political  world  with  the  readiness  of  the  Vicar  of  Bray.1 

1  [Roberts,  History  of  Canada,  p.  50 ;  and  Rameau,  Une  Colonie  Feo- 
dale  en  Amerique,  Paris,  1877,  p.  57.] 


88  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

The  restoration  of  Canada  and  Acadia  to  France  in  1632 
forced  the  La  Tours  to  trim  their  sails  again,  and  Charles  de 
la  Tour  succeeded  in  getting  a  grant  of  lands  and  a  com- 
mand from  the  French  king.  He  soon  found  himself  con- 
fronted by  a  shrewd  and  tireless  rival,  D'Aunay 
and  Charnisay,  the  heir  of  the  authority  of  Claude  de 

Razilly,  whom  the  king  had  sent  over  in  1632  to 
receive  back  Acadia  from  the  English.  The  rivalry  of  these 
two  chieftains  revived  in  Acadia  the  petty  warfare  of  the 
feudal  ages.  Ensconced  in  their  rustic  castles,  first  on  oppo- 
site sides  of  the  peninsula  of  Acadia, —  D'Aunay  at  Port 
Royal  and  La  Tour  at  Cape  Sable,  —  and  later,  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  where  La  Tour  established  his 
Fort  St.  Jean,  —  contesting  each  other's  holdings,  capturing 
each  other's  retainers,  now  proposing  common  action  against 
the  English  interlopers,  now  appealing  to  Boston  for  assist- 
ance, they  carried  on  the  struggle  intermittently  for  years.1 
Appeals  to  the  king  of  France  at  first  only  complicated 
matters  because  of  the  uncertainties  of  Acadian  geography, 
but  in  1 64 1  D'Aunay's  superior  influence  at  court  prevailed. 
La  Tour's  commission  was  recalled,  and  he  was  ordered  to 
report  to  the  king  in  France.  At  the  same  time  D'Aunay 
was  authorized  to  take  possession  of  La  Tour's  forts.  La 
Tour  refused  obedience,  and  D'Aunay  was  ordered  to  seize 
him.  La  Tour,  now  finding  himself  in  the  dangerous  plight 
of  a  rebel,  had  recourse  to  Boston  for  help,  and  convinced  the 
leaders  of  the  Puritan  colony  that  his  cause  was  just,  and  that 
D'Aunay  was  an  intruder.  Their  help,  however,  was  of  little 
lasting  advantage,  and  in  1645  D'Aunay  captured  Fort  St. 
Death  of  Jean  an<^  hanged  most  of  the  prisoners.  Five  years 
D'Aunay  iater  t^e  ^e  turned,  when  D'Aunay  was  drowned, 
leaving  a  widow  and  eight  children.    The  skies  then  bright- 

1  [For  the  vicissitudes  of  this  struggle  the  reader  may  be  referred  to 
Murdoch's  History  of  Nova  Scotia,  to  Rameau's  Une  Colonie  Feodale, 
and  to  Parkman's  The  Old  Regime  in  Canada."] 


LATER   HISTORY    OF    CHAMPLAIN  89 

ened  for  La  Tour,  and  he  came  back  to  Acadia,  having  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  a  new  commission  from  the  king.  Madame 
D'Aunay  was  now  overwhelmed  with  misfortune  ;  her  claims 
and  those  of  La  Tour  seemed  incapable  of  adjustment,  and, 
urged  by  the  necessities  of  her  children,  she  accepted  La 
Tour's  proposal  to  merge  them  with  his  by  marriage.1    Hardly 


FACSIMILE    OF    THE    HANDWRITING    OF    ROBERT    SEDGWICK 


had  this  promising  settlement  been  effected  when  a  force  of 
New  Englanders  under  Major  Robert  Sedgwick  of  Charles- 
town,  following  secret  instructions  received  from  Cromwell, 
suddenly  attacked  and  conquered  Acadia.  Again  La  Tour's 
adroitness  served  him  well.  In  1656  he  secured  for  himself, 
in  conjunction  with  Thomas  Temple  and  William  Crowne,  a 
grant  of  all  of  Acadia,  but  apparently  he  had  now  had  enough 
1  [Murdoch  prints  the  marriage  contract,  i.  120-123.] 


90  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

of  the  labours  and  vicissitudes  of  founding  a  people,  for  in 
less  than  two  months  he  relinquished  his  share  to  Temple, 

who  devoted  himself  with  great  energy  to  building 
gives  place  Up  the  colony.  Temple  successfully  weathered  the 
Thomas        change  in  government  at  the  Restoration,  reminding 

Charles  II.  that  he  had  been  faithful  to  his  father, 
and  "  that  one  of  the  last  commands  that  he  whispered  to 
Kirke  on  the  scaffold  was  to  charge  this  king  to  have  a  care 
of  honest  Tom  Temple."  1  The  injunction  was  heeded  so 
far  as  to  allow  Temple  to  retain  Acadia,  but  it  was  not  heeded 
to  the  extent  of  indemnifying  him  for  his  losses  when  Acadia 
was  transferred  again  to  France  in  1667. 

The  Lords  of  Acadia,  from  Sir  William  Alexander  to  Sir 
Thomas  Temple,  and  not  least  the  two  indefatigable  rivals, 
La  Tour  and  D'Aunay  Charnisay,  had  learned  to  their  cost 
how  great  a  labour  it  is  to  found  a  state.] 

1  [Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Colonial,  i.  496.  This  volume  contains 
many  items  on  these  Lords  of  Acadia.] 


CHAPTER    IV 

WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE 

We  must  now  return  to  the  lifetime  of  Champlain  and 
note  some  of  the  principal  steps  by  which  the  French  ac- 
quired control  of  the  central  portion  of  North  America. 
Among  the  young  men  whom  Champlain  selected  to  send 
among  the  Indians  to  fit  themselves  for  the  work  of  inter- 
preters was  a  Norman  named  Jean  Nicollet.  This  Jean 
was  in  1618,  and  for  the  next  sixteen  years  Nicol-  Nlcollet 
let's  time  was  chiefly  spent  among  the  Ottawas  and  Nipis- 
sings,  engaging  in  their  various  expeditions,  and  encountering 
with  them  the  privations  and  hardships  of  the  forest.  In 
1634  Champlain  sent  Nicollet  upon  a  western  expedition. 
The  object  was  to  find  out,  if  possible,  what  was  meant  by 
the  repeated  stories  of  large  bodies  of  water  to  the  westward, 
and  of  a  distant  people  without  hair  or  beards  who  did  all 
their  journeying  in  enormous  tower-like  canoes.  Nicollet 
thought  that  this  must  be  an  Oriental  people,  and  in  order 
that  he  might  not  present  too  strange  an  appearance  when 
he  should  have  arrived  among  them,  he  took  along  with  him 
a  Chinese  gown  of  rich  brocade  embroidered  with  flowers 
and  birds. 

Nicollet's  route  lay  up  the  Ottawa  River  to  Lake  Nipis- 
sing,  and  thence  to  the  Georgian  Bay.  On  that  broad  ex- 
panse of  water  the  party  launched  their  canoes  for  Nicollet 
a  journey  to  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  and  the  O  jib  way  LakeMichi- 
tribe  which  dwelt  in  its  neighbourhood.  It  does  gan 
not  appear  that  Nicollet  gained  any  positive  knowledge  of 
Lake  Superior,  but  he  entered  Lake  Michigan,  and  followed 


92  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

its  western  shores  as  far  as  Green  Bay,  where  he  met  with 
Indians  of  strange  speech  who  had  never  before  set  eyes 
upon  a  white  man.  These  were  Winnebagoes,  belonging  to 
the  great  Dacotah  family,  and  in  their  presence  the  robe  of 
brocade  was  put  to  uses  quite  different  from  those  which  its 
owner  had  intended.  The  amazed  redskins  beheld  in  its 
wearer  a  supernatural  being,  and  were  more  than  confirmed 
in  this  belief  when  they  heard  the  report  and  saw  the  flash 
of  his  pistol.1  From  Green  Bay  our  explorer  pushed  on  up 
the  Fox  River,  where  he  fell  in  with  a  tribe  of  Algonquins 
famous  for  their  valour,  under  the  name  of  Mascoutins. 
These  Indians  told  him  of  the  existence  of  a  "great  water" 
in  the  neighbourhood,  and  inasmuch  as  their  speech  was  Al- 
gonquin, the  words  which  they  used  were  in  all  probability 
Missi-Sippi.  Whether  Nicollet  entered  the  Wisconsin  River 
or  not  is  uncertain,  but  it  seems  probable  that  he  went  farther 
to  the  South  than  Green  Bay,  to  reach  the  country  belong- 
ing to  the  Algonquin  tribe  of  the  Illinois.  He  also  estab- 
lished friendly  relations  with  the  Algonquin  Pottawattamies. 
After  this  he  retraced  his  course,  and  reached  Three  Rivers 
in  July,  1635,  just  about  one  year  from  the  time  of  starting. 
Of  course  the  "great  water"  to  which  Nicollet's  Indian 
informants  alluded  was  the  Mississippi  River,  but  it  was  an 
easy  and  natural  mistake  to  identify  it  with  the  western 
ocean,  for  which  everybody  had  been  so  long  and  so  eagerly 
looking.  Many  years  elapsed  before  this  and  its  kindred 
questions  were  correctly  solved.  The  Jesuit  influence,  which 
after  Champlain's  death  was  long  supreme  in  the  colony,  was 
not  especially  favourable  to  western  exploration.  The  scien- 
tific zeal  of  Champlain,  which  studied  geography  for  its  own 
sake,  was  not  theirs,  but  their  missionary  zeal  took  them  to 
great  lengths,  and  in  1641  we  find  Father  Jogues  preach- 

1  [On  this  expedition  cf.  "Jesuit  Relations,  Thwaites's  ed.  xxiii,  275- 
279,  and  the  monograph  of  C.  W.  Butterfield,  History  of  the  Discovery 
of  the  Northwest  by  John  Nicollet,  Cincinnati,  1881.] 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE 


93 


ing  the  gospel  to  a  concourse  of  red  men  hard  by  the  outlet 
of  Lake  Superior.1     It  is  possible  that  the  move-   Father 
ments  in  that  direction  might  have  been  more  vig-   ^X^supT- 
orously  prosecuted  but   for   the   terrible   Iroquois   rior 
war  resulting  in  the  destruction   of  the  Hurons  in   1649. 


FATHER    JOGUES 


Ten  years  later   the  journey  of  two  Frenchmen,   Radisson 
and  Groseilliers,  is  worthy  of  mention  because  they 

J  J      Radisson 

reached  a  stream  which  they  called  Forked  River,    andGro- 

scillicrs 

"  because  it  has  two  branches,  the  one  towards  the 

west,  the  other  towards   the   south,  which  we  believe   run 

towards  Mexico."2    This,  of  course,  might  be  meant  for  the 

1  {Jesuit  Relations,  xx.  97  ;  xxiii.  19.] 

2  [Radisson's  narratives    of   his   travels  have  been  printed  by  the 
Prince  Society,  Boston,  1885.] 


94       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

Mississippi  and  Missouri.  Within  the  next  three  or  four 
years  Menard  and  Allouez  explored  portions  of  the  Lake 
Superior  coast  and  again  heard  enticing  stories  about  the 
"great  water." 

About  this  time  a  marked  change  came  over  Canada.     In 
1 66 1   the  youthful   Louis  XIV.  assumed  personal 

Accession  J  * 

of  Louis  control  of  the  government  of  France,  and  it  cannot 
be  said  of  him  that  either  then  or  at  any  later  time 
he  was  at  all  neglectful  of  the  interest  of  Canada.  As  our 
narrative  will  hereafter  show,  if  Canada  suffered  at  his  hands, 
it  was  from  excessive  care  rather  than 
from  neglect.  In  1664  and  the  following 
year  the  king  sent  three  very  able  men  to 
America ;  the  first  was  the  Marquis  de  Tracy,  to  be  military 
commander  of  New  France,  the  Sieur  de  Courcelle,  to  be 
governor  of  Canada,  and  Jean  Baptiste  Talon,  to  be  intend- 
ant  of  Canada.  The  intendant  was  an  officer  charged  with 
His  changes  the  duty  °f  enforcing  a  minute  system  of  regula- 
adm?nistra-n  tions  in  the  colony,  and  incidentally  of  keeping  a 
tion  watch  upon  the  governor's  actions,  according  to 

the  universal  system  of  surveillance  for  which  the  old  regime 
in  France  was  so  notable.  With  these  men  came  as  many 
as  2000  fresh  colonists,  together  with  1200  veteran  infantry, 
as  fine  as  anything  Europe  had  to  show  ;  so  that  there  was 
now  some  hope  that  the  Iroquois  nuisance  might  be  kept  at 
arm's  length.  Talon  was  a  man  of  large  views  ;  he  had  an 
inkling  of  what  might  be  accomplished  by  such  extensive 
waterways  as  those  of  North  America  ;  and  it  was  his  settled 
intention  to  occupy  the  interior  of  the  continent,  and  to  use 
the  mouths  of  its  southern  rivers  as  places  from  which  to 
emerge  in  force  and  threaten  the  coast  of  Spanish  Mexico. 
So  aggressive  was  the  mood  of  the  French  at  this  moment 
that  Courcelle  projected  an  invasion  of  the  Long  House,  and 
in  January  and  February,  1666,  he  proceeded  as  far  as  Sche- 
nectady, whence  he   retired   on  learning   that   the  English 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE 


95 


had  taken  possession  of  New  Netherland.  In  the  ensuing 
autumn  another  expedition  was  undertaken,  and  Courcelle, 
accompanied  by  Tracy,  penetrated  the  greater  part 

Two  expe- 

of  the  Mohawk  valley.     It  was  a  singular  specta-   ditions 
cle,  that  of  600  French  regulars  in  their  uniforms,    Iroquois, 
marching  through  the  woodland  trails  to  the  sound    l66< 
of  drum  and  trumpet.    At  a  later  period  such  boldness  would 
have  entailed  disaster,  but  at  that  time  white  men  and  their 


JEAN    BAPTISTE    TALON 


ways  were  still  sufficiently  novel  to  inspire  a  great  deal  of 
wholesome  terror.  It  is  not  easy  to  calculate  the  death-deal- 
ing capacity  of  the  unknown,  and  accordingly  our  Mohawks, 
though    thoroughly  brave  men,  retired  in  confusion  before 


96       NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

the  confident  and  resonant  advance  of  the  Gallic  chivalry.1 
The  moral  impression  thus  produced  was  reinforced  so  effec- 
tively by  Jesuit  missionaries  that  the  Long  House  was  kept 
comparatively  quiet  for  twenty  years.  Indeed,  fears  were 
entertained  at  times  in  New  York  that  the  French  might 
succeed  in  winning  over  the  Iroquois  in  spite  of  the  past,  but 
any  such  result  was  averted  by  the  far-sighted  policy  of  Sir 
Edmund  Andros  and  Thomas  Dongan,  and  the  ascendancy 
acquired  over  the  Mohawks  by  the  Schuylers  at  Albany. 

The    remotest    western    frontier    of     French    missionary 
enterprise   was   now   the   northern  portion   of  Lake  Michi- 
gan from  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  to  Green  Bay.     The  French 
names  dotted  with  such  profusion  over  that  portion  of  the 
United  States  known  as  the  Old  Northwest  pre- 

Contrasts 

between        serve  for  us  an  eloquent  record  of  the  travels  and 

New  France 

and  New  toils  of  the  old  explorers.  The  New  England  colo- 
ng  an  nies  were  more  than  twenty  times  as  populous  as 
Canada,  yet  their  farthest  inland  reach  was  to  the  shores  of 
the  Connecticut  River  at  Deerfield  and  Hadley,  while  the 
French  outposts  were  more  than  a  thousand  miles  from  the 
Atlantic.  This  difference  was  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
primary  object  of  the  English  was  to  found  homes,  and  repro- 
duce in  the  wilderness  the  self-supporting  and  self-governing 
rural  communities  of  the  Old  Country  ;  whereas  the  primary 
object  of  the  French  was  either  to  convert  the  heathen,  or 
to  trade  for  peltries,  or  to  settle  geographical  questions,  and 
all  this  was  a  more  migratory  kind  of  work  than  founding 
villages.  In  particular,  the  effects  of  Champlain's  policy  in 
becoming  a  leader  of  the  alliance  against  the  Long  House 
are  conspicuously  visible.2  It  will  be  observed  that  for  more 
than  half  a  century  after  Champlain's  attack  upon  the  Onon- 

1  [For  these  two  expeditions,  see  the  Abbe  Faillon's  Histoire  de  la 
Colonie  Francaise  en  Canada,  iii.  130-158  ;  Parkman,  The  Old  Regime, 
pp.  236-256.] 

2  [See  above,  p.  62.] 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE  97 

daga  fort,  the  route  taken  by  Frenchmen  toward  the  great 
West  was  up  the  Ottawa  River  and  across  the  northern 
portion  of  Lake  Huron.  The  French  acquaintance  with 
Lake  Ontario  was  as  yet  but  slight,  while  of  Lake  Erie 
they  knew  nothing  save  by  hearsay.  It  was  impossible  for 
them  to  use  those  southerly  routes  because  of  the  Iroquois. 
But  inasmuch  as  the  Iroquois  by  sudden  raids  to  the  north- 
ward could  cut  off  the  current  of  the  northwestern  fur- 
trade  at  almost  any  point  between  Lake  Ontario  The  French 
and  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  it  became  very  impor-  Jouteto the 
tant  for  the  French  to  maintain  friendly  relations  Northwest 
with  all  the  Algonquin  tribes  about  the  great  lakes,  from 
the  Ottawas  to  the  Ojibways  and  Pottawattamies.  These 
were  among  the  prime  necessities  which  carried  their  activ- 
ity so  far  to  the  west,  and  it  so  happened  that  side  by  side 
with  the  devoted  missionaries  a  peculiar  kind  of  population 
was  developed  in  adaptation  to  the  wild  and  lawless  life  of 
these  woodland  regions.  Among  the  picturesque  figures  of 
New  France  are  those  of  the  conreurs  de  bois,  which,  liter- 
ally rendered,  would  be  "  runners  of  the  woods."  Thecou. 
Many  of  these  men  were  ne'er-do-weels  brought  rem-sdebois 
over  from  France  by  a  legislation  which  insisted  rather  upon 
quantity  than  quality  for  the  settlers  of  the  New  World. 
Their  ranks  were  reinforced  by  those  who  for  whatever  pur- 
pose were  dissatisfied  with  steady  work  in  a  steady-going 
community.  The  paternal  legislation  of  Louis  XIV.  would 
have  had  them  marry  French  women  of  their  own  station, 
cultivate  their  small  farms,  and  comport  themselves  with 
sober  dignity.  In  point  of  fact,  they  tramped  off  to  the 
woods,  took  to  themselves  Indian  wives,  and  hunted  the 
moose,  or  speared  the  salmon,  or  set  traps  for  every  four- 
footed  creature  with  fur  on  its  back.  We  are  told,  with 
much  probability,  by  Charlevoix,  that  these  men  did  not  do 
nearly  so  much  to  civilize  the  Indians  as  the  Indians  did  to 
barbarize  them. 


98 


NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 


COUREUR    DE    EOIS 


It  was  certainly  felt  by  Father  Allouez  that  these  wood 

rangers  were  as  much  in  need  of   a   missionary  as  the  red 

men  themselves,  for  early  in  1670  he  busied  him- 

Father  Al-  J  ' 

louez  on  the   self  in  preaching  to  them.    At  this  time  he  reached 

Wisconsin  .  ..  , 

the  head  of  the  Wisconsin  River,  and  was  told 
that  six  days'  journey  from  there  it  flowed  into  the  Missis- 
sippi or  "Great  Water."     The  "Jesuit  Relation"  for   1670 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE  99 

speaks  of  this  "  great  water  "  as  a  very  wide  river,  of  which 
none  of  the  Indians  had  ever  seen  the  end,  and  it  was  not 
clear  whether  it  emptied  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  or  that  of 
California. 

The  politic  Frenchmen  at  the  north  of  Lake  Michigan 
had  their  hands  quite  full  with  the  relations,  peaceful  or 
hostile,  of  the  Indian  tribes.  Thither  had  retreated  the 
Hurons  and  Ottawas  to  get  out  of  the  reach  of  the  dreaded 
Long  House,  and  by  coming  hither  they  had  given  umbrage 
to  the  ferocious  Dacotahs  or  Sioux,  whom  Father  Marquette 
not  inaptly  termed  the  Iroquois  of  the  West.  But  the  chas- 
tisement wrought  by  Tracy  in  the  Mohawk  country  was 
reported  with  savage  exultation  from  red  man  to  red  man 
along  the  chain  of  lakes,  until  it  encouraged  the  Ottawas 
with  the  remnant  of  Hurons  to  move  backward  as  far  as 
Mackinaw  and  the  great  Manitoulin  Island. 

In  1670,  in  accordance  with  the  injunctions  of  the  king, 
Talon  despatched  St.  Lusson  to  take  possession  of  the  North- 
west, and  in  the  spring  of  1671  the  heights  looking  upon  the 
Sault  Ste.  Marie  witnessed  a  pageant  such  as  none  knew  so 
well  as  Frenchmen  how  to  prepare.  Besides  the  tribes  just 
mentioned,  there  were  representatives  from  not  The  French 
less  than  a  dozen  others,  Pottawattamies,  Winne-  s?on£f°th?~ 
bagoes,  Illinois,  Shawnees,  Ojibways,  Nipissings,  Northwest 
and  others,  a  vast  assemblage  of  grunting  warriors  hideous 
with  every  variety  of  lurid  paint,  and  bedizened  with  feathers 
and  wampum.  Here  were  games  of  ball,  mock  fights,  and 
whatever  peaceful  diversion  the  barbaric  mind  was  capable  of 
finding  pleasure  in.  These  festivities  continued  for  some 
weeks,  interspersed  with  feasts  at  which  were  served  the 
wild  fowl  of  the  season  and  abundance  of  fish,  with  that 
pride  of  the  red  man's  menu,  boiled  dog.  On  the  14th  of 
June,  a  great  concourse  of  people  assembled  in  the  bright 
sunshine  at  the  top  of  a  lofty  hill,  and  there  all  the  magnates 
present,  white  and  red,  affixed  their  signatures  or  made  their 


gdatfo*  lA&ne^ 


ioo  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

marks  to  a  document  which  practically  claimed  for  Louis 
XIV.  all  the  continent  there  was,  from  the  Arctic  Ocean  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  from  the  coast  of  Labrador  as  far 
west  as  land  might  go,  which  some  bold  spirits  thought 
might  be  two  or  three  hundred  miles  west  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin River.  These  signatures  were  supposed  to  commit  the 
Indian  tribes  as  well  as  the  Frenchmen  to  this  extensive 
French  claim.  After  the  signing  was  over,  an  immense 
wooden  cross  was  reared  aloft  and  planted  in  the  hole  which 
had  been  dug  to  receive  it,  while  the  Frenchmen  present, 
with  uncovered  heads,  chanted  an  ancient  Latin  hymn.  A 
post  with  the  lilies  of  France  was  planted  close  by,  while  the 

French  commander, 
Sieur  de  St.  Lusson, 
held  up  a  sod  as 
symbolic  of  taking  seizin  of  the  land.  It  was  felt,  however, 
that  all  this  pageant  would  be  incomplete  without  a  speech 
that  would  stir  the  hearts  of  the  Indians,  and  Father  Allouez, 
the  orator  of  the  day,  knew  how  to  tell  them  what  they 
could  appreciate.  He  informed  the  gaping  red  men 
Allouez  that  when  it  came  to  the  business  of  massacre, 
greatness  of  their  bloodiest  chiefs  were  mere  tyros  compared 
with  the  most  Christian  king  of  France.  He  de- 
picted that  monarch  as  wet  with  the  blood  of  his  enemies, 
and  declared  that  he  did  not  keep  scalps  as  a  record  of  the 
number  slain  simply  because  the  carnage  to  which  he  was 
accustomed  was  so  wholesale  that  no  such  petty  method  of 
reckoning  would  be  of  any  use.  Having  listened  to  this  en- 
sanguined rhetoric,  the  assemblage  broke  up,  and  with  the 
usual  choruses  of  yelps  and  grunts  the  tawny  audience 
separated  into  countless  little  groups  and  disappeared  in  the 
recesses  of  the  forest.1 

At  the   time   of  this  wild   ceremony   there   had  already 

1  [For  the  text  of  this  speech,  see  Jesuit  Relations,  lv.  109-113,  and 
Parkman,  La  Salle,  pp.  44-46.] 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE  101 

entered  upon  the  scene  the  man  who  in  some  respects  must 
be  counted  the  most  remarkable  among  all  these  pioneers  of 
France.  In  the  city  of  Rouen  there  had  dwelt  for  several 
generations  a  family  by  the  name  of  Cavelier,  wealthy  and 
highly  respected,  whose  members  were  often  chosen  as  diplo- 
mats and  judges,  or  for  other  positions  entailing  large  re- 
sponsibility. Although  these  people  did  not  strictly  belong 
to  the  noblesse,  they  were  nevertheless  lords  of  small  landed 
estates,  and  the  estate  belonging  to  the  Caveliers  was  known 
as  La  Salle.  In  the  year  1643,  Rouen  witnessed  the  birth 
of  Rene  Robert  Cavelier,  Sieur  de  La  Salle.  This  Ear]  life 
boy  seems  to  have  been  educated  at  a  Jesuit  school,  of  La  Salle 
but  as  he  grew  up,  feeling  no  inclination  for  the  priesthood, 
he  parted  from  his  old  friends  and  teachers  with  a  reputation 
for  excellent  scholarship  and  unimpeachable  character.  He 
had  shown  unusual  precocity  in  mathematics,  and  a  strong 
love  for  such  study  of  physical  science  as  could  be  com- 
passed in  those  days  of  small  things.  He  was  noted  at  an 
early  age  for  a  reserved  and  somewhat  haughty  demeanour, 
a  Puritanic  seriousness  in  his  views  of  life,  and  a  power  of 
determination  which  nothing  could  shake.  It  so  happened 
that  his  elder  brother,  Jean  Cavelier,  a  priest  of  St.  Sulpice, 
was  in  Canada,  and  that  circumstance  may  perhaps  have 
drawn  him  thither.  His  entrance  into  a  religious  order  had 
cut  him  off  from  his  inheritance,  so  that  his  resources  were 
then  and  always  extremely  meagre.  On  arriving 
in  Montreal,  La  Salle  accepted  the  feudal  grant  of  comes  to 
a  tract  of  land  at  the  place  now  called  La  Chine, 
above  the  rapids  known  by  that  name.  That  La  Salle  must 
have  entertained  some  purpose  of  exploring  the  wilderness 
before  his  coming  to  America  is  highly  probable,  for  the  first 
two  or  three  years  at  La  Chine  were  spent  by  him  in  the 
diligent  study  of  Indian  languages  ;  and  he  was  not  long  in 
acquiring  high  proficiency  both  in  Iroquois  and  in  several 
dialects  of  Algonquin.     One  day  he  was  visited  by  a  party 


IQ2  .NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

of  Seriecas,1  'v^Ko"  spent  some  weeks  at  his  house  and  had 
much  to  tell  him  about  a  river  that  they  called  the  Ohio, 
which  had  its  sources  in  their  country  and  reached  the  ocean 
at  a  distance  so  great  that  many  months  would  be  required 
to  traverse  it.  By  the  Ohio  River,  these  Indians  meant  the 
Allegheny  with  the  Ohio  and  the  lower  Mississippi, 
hears  of        in  which  grouping  their  error  was  just  as  natural 

the  Ohio  .  J 

and  resolves   and  no  greater  than  we  make  in  calling  the  upper 
exp  01        and  lower  Mississippi  by  the  same  name  ;  whereas 
in  fact,  the  Missouri  with  the  lower  Mississippi  is  the  main 
river,  and  the  upper  Mississippi  is  the  tributary.     From  the 
Senecas'  account  of  the  immense  length  of  their  Ohio  River, 
La  Salle  concluded  that  it  must  fall  into  the  Gulf  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  hence  afford  the  much-coveted  passage  to  China. 
La  Salle  therefore  decided  that  he  would  visit  the  Seneca 
country  and  ascertain  for  himself  the  truth  of  what  he  had 
been  told.     He  found  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  requisite 
authorization  from  Courcelles  and  Talon,  but  as  he  had  no 
ready  money  he  was  obliged  to  sell  his  estate  of  La  Chine 
..     in  order  to  raise  the  necessary  funds.      Tust  at  that 

His  expedi-  J  J 

tion  com-       moment  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice  was  meditat- 

bined  with  a 

mission  ex-  ing  a  similar  enterprise,  but  with  a  very  different 
thelsuipi-0  destination  and  purpose.  They  wished  to  go  north- 
westerly to  convert  some  Indians  who  they  had 
been  told  surpassed  all  others  for  heathenish  ignorance.  To 
combine  two  such  diverse  expeditions  into  one  was  not  an 
augury  of  success. 

In  July,  1669,  seven  canoes  carrying  twenty-four  men 
started  up  the  river  from  La  Chine,  and  after  a  voyage  of 
thirty-five  days  they  reached  Irondequoit  Bay  on  the  south 
side  of  Lake  Ontario,  from  which  a  march  of  twenty  miles 
brought  them  to  one  of  the  principal  Seneca  villages.  There 
they  found  the  people  in  great  excitement  because  of  the 
return  of  a  small  war  party  with  one  young  captive  warrior. 
One  of  the  French  priests  tried  to  buy  him  from  his  captors, 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE  103 

but  the  village  found  the  season  dull  and  was  determined  not 
to  be  deprived  of  its  night's  pleasure.  So  the  Frenchmen 
were  obliged  to  look  on  for  six  weary  hours  while  the  young 
man  was  subjected  to  every  torture  that  the  red 

J  J  The  way 

man's  ingenuity  could  devise.     After  the  life  had   blocked  by 

the  ScncceLS 

quite  left  his  charred  and  writhing  form,  and  after 
the  body  had  been  cut  into  fragments  and  passed  about  to 
be  eaten  as  dainty  morsels,  the  savage  hosts  were  ready  to 
inquire  what  service  they  could  do  to  their  guests.  But 
when  they  heard  what  was  wanted  they  became  profuse  in 
their  warnings  against  the  wicked  Indians  who  dwelt  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio.  They  would  furnish  no  guides  nor  be  in 
any  way  instrumental  in  leading  their  beloved  friends  into 
such  unseemly  dangers.  Our  Frenchmen  had  long  since 
learned  the  true  meaning  of  such  ironical  expressions  of  soli- 
citude on  the  part  of  the  red  men.  Practically,  they  often 
amounted  to  a  threat,  as  if  to  say,  If  you  go  down  there  we 
will  kill  you  and  lay  the  blame  upon  the  Indians  of  that  part. 
Why  the  Senecas  did  not  wish  the  Frenchmen  to  pass  through 
their  country  at  that  moment,  unless  it  may  have  been  the 
general  Iroquois  feeling  toward  Frenchmen,  is  not  clear.  At 
this  juncture  one  of  the  Indians  offered  to  guide  the  party  by 
an  entirely  different  route,  from  which  they  could  reach  the 
Ohio  at  a  point  lower  down  than  originally  contemplated. 
La  Salle  and  the  Sulpicians  concluded  to  accept  this  offer, 
and  were  led  back  to  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario.  They 
crossed  the  Niagara  River  just  below  the  bluffs  at  Queenston 
and  distinctly  heard  the  magnificent  sub-bass  monotone  of 
the  great  cataract,  to  which,  perhaps,  they  were  the  first  of 
Europeans  to  approach  so  near.  At  a  village  on  the  present 
site  of  Hamilton,  La  Salle  was  presented  with  a  Shawnee 
prisoner  who  promised  to  take  him  across  Lake  Erie  Meeting 
to  the  Ohio ;  but  a  new  turn  to  events  was  sud-  Wlth  Johet 
denly  given  by  the  unexpected  arrival  of  a  couple  of  French- 
men from  the  northwest.    One  of  these  was  Louis  Joliet,  a 


104  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

man  of  about  the  same  age  as  La  Salle,  who  had,  like  him, 
been  educated  by  the  Jesuits  and  taken  orders,  but  had  after- 
ward come  to  devote  himself  to  mercantile  pursuits.  Talon, 
the  Intendant,  had  heard  much  of  the  copper  mines  on  the 
shore  of  Lake  Superior,  the  fame  of  which  was  very  wide- 
spread in  aboriginal  America,  and  he  had  sent  Joliet  to  dis- 
cover and  inspect  them.  In  this  quest  the  young  Frenchman 
had  not  been  successful,  but  he  brought  with  him  such  a 
desperate  account  of  the  sinful  condition  of  the  Pottawatta- 
mies  that  the  Sulpician  priests  decided  to  go  at  once  and 
La  Salle  convert  them,  in  spite  of  all  that  La  Salle  could 
tSfsufpi™  sav-  So  the  exploring  party  was  broken  up,  the 
cians  Sulpicians  went  to  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  where  they 

met  with  a  rather  cold  reception  from  the  Jesuits,  and  after 
a  while  concluded  to  return  to  Montreal  without  anything  to 
show  for  their  pains. 

As  for  La  Salle,  at  that  disappointing  moment  he  showed 
a  quality  for  which  he  was  ever  afterward  distinguished. 
When  he  had  started  to  do  a  thing  he  never  relinquished 
his  purpose,  although  men  and  fortune  forsook  him.  If  he 
had  been  one  of  a  Balaklava  Six  Hundred  and  the  only  sur- 
vivor among  them,  he  would  have  attacked  the  enemy,  single- 
handed,  with  unabated  courage.  Unfortunately,  our  sources 
of  information  partially  fail  us  at  this  point,  so  that  some 
uncertainty  remains  as  to  the  route  which  La  Salle  took 
after  the  Sulpicians  had  left  him.     One  account  of  his  route 

—  perhaps  as  probable  as  any  —  takes  him  by  way 
piores  the      of  Lake  Chautauqua  into  the  Allegheny  valley,  and 

thence  down  the  Ohio  River  as  far  as  Louisville. 
In  the  following  year  he  seems  to  have  crossed  Lake  Erie 
from  south  to  north,  and  ascended  the  Detroit  River  to  Lake 
Huron  ;  thence  to  have  passed  into  Lake  Michigan  and  as- 
cended the  Chicago  River,  from  which  he  found  his  way 
across  the  brief  portage  to  the  river  of  the  Illinois.  Accord- 
ing to  some  accounts,  he  reached  the  Mississippi  River  on 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE  105 

both  these  trips,  first  from  the  Ohio,  and  afterward  from  the 
Illinois.  But  these  conclusions  are  not  well  supported  and 
have  generally  been  pronounced  improbable. 

An  interest  in  this  remote  "  great  water  "  continued 
strongly  to  agitate  many  minds,  and  Talon  had  already  settled 
upon  Louis  Joliet  as  a  fit  man  to  undertake  its  discovery, 
when  circumstances  led  to  a  change  of  governorship  for  New 
France.  Courcelles  and  Talon  were  both  recalled,  and  in 
place  of  them  the  affairs  of  Canada  were  managed    „ 

0  >        Frontenac 

by  one  of  the   most  remarkable  Frenchmen  of  his    succeeds 
time,  Louis  de  Buade,  Count  of  Frontenac.     This 
man  was  of  the  bluest  blood  of  France,  a  veteran  soldier  of 
no  mean  ability,  and  for  executive  capacity  excelled  by  few. 
His  talents  for  dealing  with  Indians  were  simply  marvellous. 


He  could  almost  direct  the  policy  ^r       of   an    Indian 

tribe  by  a  wave  of  the  hand.  If  f  need  be,  he  could 
smear  his  face  with  war  paint  and  *  lead  off  the  demon 
dance  with  a  vigour  and  abandon  that  no  chieftain  could  hope 
to  rival.  He  could  out-yell  any  warrior  in  the  Long  House, 
and  when  he  put  on  a  frown  and  spoke  sternly,  the  boldest 
warriors  shivered  with  fear.  Among  white  men  he  was  domi- 
neering and  apt  to  be  irascible.  A  man  of  very  clear  ideas, 
he  well  knew  how  to  realize  them,  and  cared  little  character  of 
for  the  advice  of  those  who  seemed  to  him  frivo-  Frontenac 
lous  or  stupid.  It  was  hinted  that  sometimes  in  his  man- 
agement of  money  he  was  not  above  sundry  slight  peccadil- 
loes, with  which  his  enemies  were  fond  of  twitting  him,  but 
this  was  not  always  a  safe  game,  since  he  was  liable  to  retort 
upon  his  accusers  with  an  utterly  overwhelming  tu  qiioquc. 
On  the  whole,  however,  he  must  be  called  a  man  of  public 
spirit,  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  country,  and  with  fewer 


106  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

serious  failings  than  most  of  the  public  men  of  his  age.  In 
his  general  view  of  things  he  was  far-sighted  and  not  petty. 
If  Talon  had  remained  in  Canada,  Frontenac  would  probably 
have  quarrelled  with  him,  but  as  it  was,  he  adopted  most  of 
that  official's  intelligent  plans  ;  among  other  things  he  warmly 
espoused  the  ideas  of  La  Salle, 
and  he  confirmed  the  choice  of 
Joliet  for  the  proposed  expedi- 
tion to  the  Mississippi.  The 
mention  of  Joliet  reminds  us  that  New  France  was  coming 
of  age  as  a  colony,  for  this  explorer  was  a  native  of  the  coun- 
try, having  been  born  at  Quebec  in  1645, ten  years  after  the 
death  of  Champlain.  It  appears  that  Joliet  was  a  well-edu- 
joiiet  cated  man  and  showed  considerable  proficiency  in 

explored  the  higher  mathematics.  It  was  said,  too,  that  he 
Mississippi  was  rather  a  formidable  debater  on  questions  of 
logic  and  metaphysics.  There  is  nothing  in  his  career  that 
shows  qualities  of  a  lofty  or  transcendent  order,  but  we  get 
the  impression  of  a  prudent  and  painstaking  man  of  sober 
judgment. 

At  Mackinaw  Joliet  was  joined  by  a  Jesuit  priest  named 

Jacques  Marquette,  a  native  of  the  old  Carlovingian  capital, 

Laon,  born  in  1637.      He  was  distinguished  for  lin- 

Marquette  .      .         ,  ,  ,  .   . 

guistic  talents  and  for  the  deeply  spiritual  quality  of 
his  mind.  He  seems  to  have  had  a  poetic  temperament  pro- 
foundly sensitive  to  the  beauties  of  nature  and  of  art,  while  his 
religion  exercised  upon  him  a  transfiguring  influence,  so  that 
all  who  met  him  became  aware  of  a  heavenly  presence.  This 
gentle  and  exquisite  creature  was  as  brave  as  a  paladin  and 
capable  of  enduring  the  fiercest  extremes  of  hardship. 

It  was  on  the  17th  of  May,  1673,  that  Joliet  and  Mar- 
joiiet  and  quette  started  with  five  companions  in  two  birch 
reach^he6  canoes  well  supplied  with  dried  corn  and  smoked 
Mississippi  buffalo  meat.  From  Green  Bay  they  ascended  the 
Fox  River  to  Lake  Winnebago,  and  after  various  adventures 


San  _&■ 


joliet's  map  of 


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FRANCE,    1673-1674 


V,  I) 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE  107 

reached  the  portage  from  which  they  launched 
their  canoes  on  the  Wisconsin  River.  One 
month  from  the  day  of  starting  they  passed  the 
bluffs  at  Prairie  du  Chien  and  glided  out  upon 
the  placid  blue  waters  of  the  upper  Mississippi. 
Their  joy,  as  Marquette  informs  us,  was  too 
great  for  words.  A  fortnight  passed  while 
they  floated  down-stream  without  disclosing 
any  trace  of  human  beings,  but  at  length  they 
came  to  a  village  called  Peoria,  where  they 
were  treated  with  great  civility  and  regaled 
with  the  usual  Indian  dishes,  while  the  chief, 
in  a  more  than  usually  florid  speech,  assured 
them  that  their  visit  to  his  village  added  se- 
renity to  the  sky  and  new  beauty  to  the  land- 
scape and  a  fresh  zest  to  his  tobacco,  but  he 
really,  as  a  friend,  could  not  advise  them  to 
pursue  their  course,  as  it  abounded  with  dan- 
gerous enemies.  Disregarding  this  caution, 
however,  they  kept  on  their  way  without  any 
ill  consequences.  They  did  not  fail  to  note 
the  striking  spectacle  below  the  cliffs  at  Alton 
where  the  furious  Missouri,  with  its  load  of 
yellow  mud  accumulated  during  its  3000  miles' 
course  through  the  mountains,  rushes  through, 
swallows  up  and  defiles  the  quiet  blue  They  pass 
waves  of  the  Mississippi.  Down  the  %£"* 
turbid  and  surging  yellow  river  they  Mlssoun 
kept  on  for  hundreds  of  miles,  until  they  en- 
countered parties  of  Arkansas  and  narrowly 
escaped  without  a  fight.  Presently  they  stopped 
at  an  Arkansas  village  where  they  were  feast- 
ed as  usual,  but  after  the  hilarity  was  over 
the  principal  chief  informed  them  that  a  foul 
conspiracy  was  on  foot  to  murder  them,  —  an 


108  NEW  FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

infringement  of  the  laws  of  hospitality  which  he  felt  himself 
unable  to  sanction.  This  incident  seems  to  have  had  its 
effect  in  deciding  them  to  retrace  their  course.  They  had 
gone  so  far  southward  as  to  convince  themselves  that  the 
river  must  empty  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  not  into  the 
Vermilion  Sea,  as  the  Gulf  of  California  was  then  commonly 
called.  This  was  the  most  important  of  the  points  which 
they  had  it  in  mind  to  establish,  and  it  seemed  to  them 
better  to  return  with  the  information  already  acquired  than 
to  run  the  risk  of  perishing  and  sending  back  no  word.  For 
such  reasons  they  turned  back  on  the  17th  of  July,  just  two 
months  from  their  date  of  starting.  After  ascending  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois  they  went  up  to  the  head  of  that  stream, 
and  there  met  some  Indians  who  guided  them  to  Lake  Mich- 
igan.    It  was  about  the  end  of  September  when 

The  return        &  1111 

they  reached  Green  Bay,  after  having  wielded  the 
paddles  for  more  than  2500  miles.  There  the  two  friends 
parted.  While  Joliet  made  his  way  to  Montreal  with  a  report 
of  what  had  been  accomplished,  Marquette  lay  ill  at  Green 
Bay  for  more  than  a  year.  A  partial  recovery  of  health  led 
him  to  attempt  the  founding  of  a  new  mission  at  the  princi- 
pal town  of  the  Illinois,  to  be  called  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception, but  his  strength  again  gave  out,  and  on  the  way  to 
Mackinaw  in  the  spring  cf  1675  this  beautiful  spirit  passed 
away  from  the  earth.1 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  voyage  of  Marquette  and 
Joliet  was  to  revive  in  La  Salle  the  spirit  which  had  led  him 
down  the  Ohio  River  some  years  before.  The  conception 
of  New  France  as  a  great  empire  in  the  wilderness  was  tak- 
ing a  distinct  shape  in  his  mind.  Among  its  corn- 
La  Salle's  . 

great  de-       prehensive  features  were  the  extension  01  the  tur- 

trade,  the  building  up  of  French  colonies  with  an 

extensive  agriculture,  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  to  Chris- 

1  [A  translation  of  Marquette's  own  narrative  may  be  found  in  J.   G. 
Shea's  History  and  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  pp.  6-50.] 


A* 


aiAJt    iriasrcf%c4X£e 


DERNIERES 

DECOUVERTES 

DANS 

L'AMERIQU 

SEPTENTRIONALE 
de  M ,    DE  LA    SALE5 

Mi&s     au     jour    par     M.    le    Chevalier 
TO  NT  I,  Gouverneur  da   Fort  Saint 

Louis,  aux  Illinois. 


A  PARIS  AU  PALAIS, 

Chez  JEAN    CUIGNARD  ,    a  Ymttif 

de  la  Grand'  Salle  ,  a  llmage 

faint  Jean. 


M.    DC.    LXXXXVII. 
jivec  Privilege  dn   Key, 


TITLE    OF    TONTY'S    "DERNIERFS    DECOUVERTES 


A  N 

ACCOUNT 

0  F 

Monfieur  de  la  S  ALL  Es 

LAST 
Expedition  and  DISCOVERIES 

1  N 

North  AMERICA 

Preferred  to  the  French  King? 

And  Publifhed  by  the 

Chevalier  T0/tf/,Govcrnour  of  Fort  St.L^ 
uiS)  in  the  Province  of  the  Iflinois, 


Made  Englijb  from  the  Phis  Original, 

ALSO 
The   ADVENTURES  of  the  Sieur  de 
MO  NT  AVE  A  N%  Captain  of  the  French 
Buccaneers  on  the  Coafl:  of  Guinea^  in  the 
Year   i6qk. 


i  o  x-  d  o  a;  , 

Printed  for  7-  Tonfon  at  the  fudge's  Mead,  and  S.  BuckL 
at  the  Dolphin  in  Fiea-fircet,  and  i^.  JQtaplocky  at  t]le  1 
-#g€l  and  Grsmi  in  St.  P<«*fs  Cburek-Tard*    1698. 


TITLE    OF    TONTY'S    "AN    ACCOUNT    OF 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE  in 

tianity,  and  the  playing  a  controlling  part  in  forest  politics. 
Marquette  and  Joliet  had  well-nigh  demonstrated  that  the 
Mississippi  River  flows  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  One  might, 
perhaps,  suppose  that  a  reference  to  the  expedition  of  Soto 
more  than  a  century  before  would  have  sufficed  to  establish 
the  identity  of  the  river  descended  by  Marquette  and  Joliet 
with  the  river  where  the  great  Spanish  knight  was  buried. 
But  the  Frenchmen  of  the  seventeenth  century  seem  to 
have  known  nothing  about  Soto  or  his  explorations.  To 
them  the  problem  was  a  new  one.  After  once  completely 
solving  it,  La  Salle  would  be  in  a  position  to  establish  a 
*town  at  the  mouth  of  the  great  river.  Such  a  town  might 
become  a  commercial  rival  of  the  Spanish  seaports  in  Mexico 
and  the  West  Indies,  while  it  would  be  a  formidable  menace 
to  them  in  time  of  war.  A  chain  of  military  posts  might 
connect  the  town  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  with  the 
spot  where  the  Illinois  empties  into  that  river,  and  similar 
chains  might  connect  the  Illinois  on  the  one  hand  The  Missis. 
with  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  on  the  other  hand    "PP*  valley 

'  to  be  occu- 

with  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario.  It  was  the  gener-  pied 
ally  accepted  French  doctrine  that  the  discovery  of  a  great 
river  gave  an  inchoate  title  to  all  the  territory  drained  by 
the  river,  and  this  inchoate  title  could  be  completed  by  occu- 
pation. La  Salle's  plan  was  to  effect  a  military  occupation 
of  the  whole  Mississippi  valley  as  far  eastward  as  the  summit 
of  the  Appalachian  range,  by  means  of  military  posts  which 
should  control  the  communications  and  sway  the  policy  of 
the  Indian  tribes.  Thus,  the  Alleghanies  would  become  an 
impassable  barrier  to  the  English  colonists  slowly  pressing 
westward  from  the  Atlantic  coast.  This  became  the  abid- 
ing policy  of  the  French  in  North  America.  This  was  the 
policy  in  attempting  to  carry  out  which  they  fought  and  lost 
the  Seven  Years'  War.  Of  this  policy  such  men  as  Talon, 
Frontenac,  and  La  Salle  were  the  originators,  and  in  La 
Salle  it  found  its  most  brilliant  representative. 


112 


NEW  FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 


m        :      T7 
thevenot's  map  of 


An  obvious  criticism  upon  such  a  scheme  is  its  mere  vast- 
ness.  In  a  colony  recruited  so  slowly  as  Canada  there  were  not 
Difficulty  of  enough  people  to  carry  it  into  operation.  Under 
sorvastga°Ut  tne  most  favourable  circumstances  it  could  scarcely 
plan  remain  more  than  a  sketch  ;  but  La  Salle  believed 

that  the  inducements  held  out  by  an  increasing  fur-trade  and 
enlarged  opportunities  of  agriculture  and  commerce  in  gen- 
eral would  bring  settlers  to  New  France  and  greatly  accel- 
erate its  rate  of  growth.  There  was  perhaps  nothing  neces- 
sarily wild  in  his  calculations,  except  that  he  entirely  failed 
to  understand  the  inherent  weakness  of  colonization  that  was 
dependent  upon  government  support. 

When  it  came  to  performing  his  own  part  of  the  great 
scheme,  the  essential  point  of  weakness  was  want  of  money, 
—  a  kind  of  weakness  which  has  proved  fatal  to  many  a  great 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE 


113 


jj  39 

MARQUETTE'S    DISCOVERIES 


scheme.     In  order  to  cure  this  want  La  Salle  was  inclined 

to  resort  to  the  agency  which  was  chiefly  in  vogue  in  the 

seventeenth  century,  namely,    that  of   monopoly.     This  at 

once  enlisted  against  him  the  fur-traders  as  a  class.     His 

friendly  relations  with  Frontenac  made  it  seem  probable  that 

he  could  get  whatever  he  wanted,  and  in  whatsoever  quarter 

he  turned  his  attention  the  monopoly   scare  was    La  Salle,s 

excited  and  every  possible  device  was  adopted  for    Privileges 
•>  l  *  arouse  op- 

hindering  his  success,  —  devices  which  went  all   position 

the  way  from  attaching  his  property  to  hiring  desperadoes  to 
murder  him.  Besides  this,  La  Salle  was  regarded  with  cold- 
ness, if  not  hostility,  by  the  Jesuits,  whose  service  he  had 
abandoned  and  whose  schemes  for  civilizing  the  wilderness 
were  often  at  variance  with  his.  Moreover,  with  all  his  ad- 
mirable qualities,  La  Salle  was  not  exactly  a  lovable  person. 


114  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

He  was  too  deeply  absorbed  in  his  arduous  work  to  be  genial, 
and  he  was  a  stern  disciplinarian  against  whom  lawless  spirits, 
familiar  with  the  loose  freedom  of  the  wilderness,  were  liable 
to  rebel.  The  history  of  his  brief  career  of  eight  years  after 
he  had  finally  given  himself  up  to  his  life  work  is  a  singular 
record  of  almost  unintermitted  disaster  leading  to  a  tragic 
end,  yet  relieved  by  one  glorious,  though  momentary,  gleam 
of  triumph. 

One  of  Frontenac's  first  steps  for  the  protection  of  the 


PLAN    OF    FORT    FRONTENAC,    1685 

fur-trade  between  Montreal  and  the  northwestern  wilderness 
was  the  erection  of  a  strong  wooden  blockhouse  at  the  outlet 
Fort  of  Lake  Ontario.     Its  site  was  about  that  of  the 

^ranted  to  PresenL  town  of  Kingston,  and  it  was  long  known 
La  Salle  as  Fort  Frontenac.  It  served  as  a  wholesome 
menace  to  the  men  of  the  Long  House  over  across  the  lake. 
La  Salle  went  to  France  and  had  an  interview  with  Louis 
XIV.,  in  which  he  obtained  that  monarch's  authority  to  con- 


WILDERNESS    AND   EMPIRE  115 

duct  an  exploring  expedition,  and  he  was  placed  in  command 
of  Fort  Frontenac  on  his  promise  to  rebuild  and  greatly 
strengthen  it.  This  promise  was  amply  fulfilled.  The  for- 
tress was  rebuilt  of  stone  according  to  sound  military  princi- 
ples, and  was  strong  enough  to  defy  the  attempt  of  any  force 
that  was  likely  to  be  brought  against  it. 

The  next  reach  of  La  Salle's  arm  was  from  the  outlet 
of  Ontario   to    the   Niagara   River   above    the   Falls.     For 
the  prosecution  of  his  enterprise  canoe  navigation 
seemed  hardly  to  suffice,  and  on  the  Niagara  River    builds  the 
La  Salle  built  and  launched  a  schooner  of  some 
forty-five  tons  burden,  armed  with  five  small  cannon,  and 
carrying  on  her  prow  a  grotesque  griffin,  the  name  that  was 
given  to  her  in  honour  of  Count  Frontenac' s  family  arms. 
While  these  preparations  were  going 
^    ■   ^j^  £  on  La  Salle  received  a  treacherous  dose 

^^ytflyflj/      of  poison,  the  effects  of  which  his  iron 
y        constitution  threw  off  with  rather  sur- 
°^»  prising  ease.     He  started  out  on  his 

enterprise  with  about  forty  men,  two  of  whom  deserve  espe- 
cial mention  for  various  reasons.  Henri  de  Tonty  was  a 
native  of  Naples,  son  of  the  gentleman  who  invented  the 
kind  of  life  insurance  for  a  long  time  popular  as  Henri  de 
the  Tontine.  In  his  youthful  days  Tonty  had  one  Tonty 
hand  blown  off  in  battle  ;  he  had  it  replaced  by  an  iron  hand 
over  which  he  always  wore  a  glove,  and  he  was  commonly 
known  among  the  Indians  as  Iron  Hand.  He  was  a  man  of 
direct  and  simple  nature,  brave  and  resourceful,  and  in  every 
emergency  was  absolutely  faithful  to  La  Salle. 

A  very  different  sort  of  person  was  Louis   Hennepin,  a 
native  of  Flanders,  about  thirty-seven  years  of  age.     He  had 
early  joined  the  Franciscan  friars,  and  an  irrepres-    Loilis 
sible  love  for  adventure  brought  him  to  Canada,    HennePin 
where  he   found  the  wild  solitudes   about  Fort    Frontenac 
quite  in  harmony  with  his  tastes.     He  was  a  capable  man 


u6      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

with  many  excellent  qualities,  and  on  most  occasions  truth- 
ful, although  his  reputation  has  greatly  suffered  from  one 
gigantic  act  of  mendacity.1  We  shall  have  occasion  to  note 
his  characteristics  as  we  go  on.  He  was  one  of  the  advance 
party  sent  by  La  Salle  to  the  Niagara  River,  and  was  proba- 
bly the  first  of  Europeans  to  look  at  the  Falls.  It  is  certain 
that  he  was  the  first  to  make  a  sketch  of  them  for  publica- 
tion. Such  a  sketch  is  engraved  in  his  account  of  his  journeys 
published  in  Utrecht  in  1697,  and  is  extremely  interesting 
and  valuable  as  enabling  us  to  realize  the  changes  which 
have  since  occurred  in  the  contour  of  the  Falls.2 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1678  that  La  Salle  set  sail  in  the 
Griffin.     His  departure  was  clouded  by  the  news  that  impa- 
tient creditors  had  laid  hands  upon  his  Canadian 

The  voyage 

of  the  estates,  but  nothing  daunted,  he  pushed  on  through 

Lakes  Erie  and  Huron,  and  after  many  disasters 
reached  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Michigan.  The 
Griffin  was  now  sent  back  with  half  the  party  to  the  Ni- 
agara River  with  a  cargo  of  furs  to  appease  the  creditors 
and  purchase  additional  supplies  for  the  remainder  of  the 
journey,  while  La  Salle,  with  his  diminished  company,  pushed 
on  to  the  Illinois,  where  a  fort  was  built  and  appropriately 
named  Fort  Crevecceur.  It  was  indeed  at  a  heart-breaking 
moment  that  it  was  finished,  for  so  much  time  had  elapsed 
since  the  departure  of  their  little  ship  that  all  had  come  to 
despair  of  her  return.  No  word  ever  came  from  her.  In 
that  time  of  universal  suspicion  there  were  not  wanting  whis- 
pers that  her  crew  had  deserted  and  scuttled  her,  carrying 
off  her  goods  to    trade  with   on  their    own    account.     But 

1  [Hennepin,  in  his  Nouvelle  Decouverte  (fun  grand  Pays  sitne  dans 
V Ameriqice,  Utrecht,  1697,  affirmed  that  he  himself  had  explored  the 
Mississippi  to  its  mouth  in  1680,  thus  anticipating  the  great  exploit  of 
La  Salle,  and  he  gave  an  account  of  the  voyage.  This  account  Henne- 
pin based  on  the  journal  that  Father  Membre  kept  of  his  voyage  down 
the  river  in  company  with  La  Salle.] 

2  [Hennepin's  sketch  of  the  Falls  is  reproduced  in  Winsor's  Narr. 
and  Crit.  Hist.,  iv.  248.] 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE 


17 


HENNEPIN'S    FIRST    VIEW   OF    NIAGARA    FALLS 

perhaps  she  may  simply  have  foundered  in  some  violent  gale 
on  the  lakes. 

After  a  winter  of  misery  it  was  evident  that  nothing 
could  make  up  for  the  loss  of  the  Griffin  except  a  journey 
on  foot  to  Montreal.  Accordingly,  in  March,  1680, 
La  Salle  started  on  this  terrible  walk  of  1000  terrible  win- 
miles,  leaving  Fort  Crevecceur  under  command  of 
the  faithful  Tonty.  La  Salle  had  with  him  a  long-tried 
Indian  guide,  a  Mohegan  from  Connecticut,  who  for  many 
years  had  roamed  over  the  country.  He  took  with  him  also 
four  Frenchmen ;  and  these  six  fought  their  way  eastward 
through  the  wilderness,  now  floundering  through  melting 
snow,  now  bivouacking  in  clothes  stiff  with  frost,  now  stop- 
ping to  make  a  bark  canoe,  now  leaping  across  streams  on 
floating  ice-cakes,  like  the  runaway  slave  girl  in  "  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin ;  "  in  such  plight  did  they  make  their  way 
across  Michigan  and  along  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Erie  to 


n8      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

the  little  blockhouse  above  Niagara  Falls.  All  but  La  Salle 
had  given  out  on  reaching  Lake  Erie,  and  the  five  sick  men 
were  ferried  across  by  him  in  a  bark  canoe  to  the  blockhouse. 
We  may  see  here  how  the  sustaining  power  of  wide-ranging 
thoughts  and  a  lofty  purpose  enabled  the  scholar  reared  in 
luxury  to  surpass  in  endurance  the  Indian  guide  and  the 
hunters  inured  to  the  hardships  of  the  forest.  He  had  need 
of  all  this  sustaining  power,  for  at  Niagara  he  learned  that 
a  ship  from  France,  freighted  for  him  with  a  cargo  worth 
about  $30,000  in  our  modern  money,  had  been  wrecked  in 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and  everything  lost.  He  received  this 
staggering  news  with  his  wonted  iron  composure,  and  taking 
three  fresh  men  in  place  of  his  invalids,  completed  his  march 
of  1000  miles  to  Montreal.  There  he  collected  supplies  and 
reinforcements,  and,  returning  as  far  as  Fort  Frontenac,  was 
Fresh  taking  a  moment's  rest  preparatory  to  a  fresh  start 

disasters  when  further  ill  tidings  arrived.  In  July  there 
came  a  message  from  the  fort  so  well  named  Heart-break. 
The  garrison  had  mutinied,  and  after  driving  away  Tonty 
with  such  men  as  were  faithful,  they  had  pulled  the  block- 
house to  pieces  and  made  their  way  eastward  through  Mich- 
igan. Recruiting  their  ranks  with  divers  wood  rangers  of 
ill  repute,  they  had  plundered  the  station  at  Niagara,  and 
their  canoes  were  now  cruising  on  Lake  Ontario  in  the  hope 
of  crowning  their  work  with  the  murder  of  La  Salle.  These 
wretches,  however,  fell  into  their  own  pit.  Between  hear- 
ing and  acting,  the  interval  with  La  Salle  was  not  a  long 
one.  That  indomitable  commander's  canoes  were  soon  upon 
the  lake,  and  in  a  few  days  he  had  waylaid  and  captured  the 
mutineers  and  sent  them  in  chains  to  be  dealt  with  by  the 
La  Salle  viceroy.  La  Salle  now  kept  on  his  way  to  the  Illi- 
feTcue0  nois  River,  intending  to  rebuild  his  fort  and  hoping 
Tonty  t0  rescue  Tonty  with  the  few  faithful  followers  who 

had  survived  the  mutiny.  That  little  party  had  found  shel- 
ter among  the  Illinois  Indians ;  but  during  the  summer  of 


WILDERNESS    AND    EMPIRE  119 

1680  the  great  village  of  the  Illinois  was  sacked  by  the  Iro- 
quois, and  the  hard-pressed  Frenchman  retreated  up  the  west- 
ern shore  of  Lake  Michigan  as  far  as  Green  Bay.  When 
La  Salle  reached  the  Illinois  village  he  found  nothing  but  the 
horrible  vestiges  of  fiery  torments  and  cannibal  feasts.  The 
only  thing-  to  be  done  was  without  delay  to  utilize    _ 

jo  s  Destruction 

the  situation  by  cementing  a  firmer  alliance  than   of  the  im- 

.     ,  ..,  A1  .  11-       n°is  visage 

before  with  the  western  Algonquins  on  the  basis  by  the 
of  their  common  enmity  to  the  Iroquois.  After  roquo1 
thus  spending  the  winter  to  good  purpose,  he  set  out  again 
for  Canada  in  May,  168 1,  to  arrange  his  affairs  and  once 
more  obtain  fresh  resources.  At  Mackinaw  his  heart  was 
rejoiced  at  meeting  his  friend  Tonty,  after  all  these  wild 
vicissitudes,  and  together  they  paddled  their  canoes  a  thou- 
sand miles  and  came  to  Fort  Frontenac. 

La  Salle's  enemies  had  begun  to  grow  quite  merry  over 
his  repeated  discomfitures,  but  at  length  his  stubborn  cour- 
age for  a  time  vanquished  the  adverse  fates.  On  the  next 
venture  things  went  smoothly  and  according  to  the  pro- 
gramme. In  the  autumn  he  started  with  a  fleet  of  canoes, 
passed  up  the  lakes  from  Ontario  to  the  head  of  Michigan, 
crossed  the  narrow  portage  from  the  Chicago  River 

r  &  to  La  Salle's 

to  the  Illinois,  and  thence  coming  out  upon  the  winter  voy- 
Mississippi,  glided  down  to  its  mouth.  On  the  theMbsL 
9th  of  April,  1682,  the  fleurs-de-lis  were  duly  sippi 
planted,  and  all  the  country  drained  by  the  great  river  and 
its  tributaries,  a  country  far  vaster  than  La  Salle  ever  im- 
agined, was  solemnly  declared  to  be  the  property  of  the  king 
of  France,  and  named  for  him  Louisiana.1 

Returning  up  the  Mississippi  after  this  triumph,  La  Salle 
established  a  small  fortified  post  on  the  Illinois  River  which 
he  called  St.  Louis  of  the  Illinois.     Leaving  Tonty  in  com- 

1  [Father  Membre's  narrative  of  this  voyage  is  given  in  translation 
in  J.  G.  Shea's  Discovery  and  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
pp.  165-184-] 


i2o      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

mand  there,  he  lost  no  time  in  returning  to  France  for  means 
to  complete  his  scheme.     The  time  had  arrived  for  founding 

a  town  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and  con- 
returns  to      necting  it  with  Canada  by  a  line  of  military  posts. 

La  Salle  was  well  received  by  the  king,  and  a  fine 
expedition  was  fitted  out,  but  once  more  the  fates  began 
to  frown  and  everything  was  ruined  by  the  ill  fortune  of  the 
naval  commander,  Beaujeu,  whom  it  was  formerly  customary 
to  blame  more  than  he  seems  really  to  have  deserved.  The 
intention  was  to  sail  directly  to  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
Failure  of  sippi,  but  the  pilots  missed  it  and  passed  beyond  ; 
sfppfexpe-  some  of  the  ships  were  wrecked  on  the  coast  of 
dition  Texas  ;    the  captain,   beset   by   foul   weather   and 

pirates,  disappeared  with  the  rest,  and  was  seen  no  more. 
Two  years  of  misery  followed,  and  with  the  misery  such 
quarrelling  and  mutual  hatred  as  had  scarcely  been  equalled 
since  the  days  of  the  early  Spanish  explorers  in  South 
America.  At  last,  in  March,  1687,  La  Salle  started  on 
foot  in  search  of  the  Mississippi,  hoping  to  ascend  it  and 
find  succour  at  Tonty's  fort ;  but  he  had  scarcely  set  out 
with  this  forlorn  hope  when  two  or  three  mutineers  skulked 
in  ambush  and  shot  him  dead.  Thus  was  cut  short  at  the 
La  Salle's  earty  age  of  forty-two  the  career  of  the  man  whose 
death  personality   is   impressed  in   some   respects   more 

strongly  than  that  of  any  other  upon  the  history  of  New 
France.  His  schemes  were  too  far-reaching  to  succeed. 
They  required  the  strength  and  resources  of  half  a  dozen 
nations  like  the  France  of  Louis  XIV.  Nevertheless,  the 
lines  upon  which  New  France  continued  to  develop  were 
substantially  those  which  La  Salle  had  in  mind,  and  the 
fabric  of  a  wilderness-empire,  of  which  he  laid  the  founda- 
tions, grew  with  the  general  growth  of  colonization,  and  in 
the  next  century  became  truly  formidable.  It  was  not  until 
Wolfe  climbed  the  Heights  of  Abraham  that  the  great  ideal 
of  La  Salle  was  finally  overthrown. 


CHAPTER  V 

WITCHCRAFT  IN  SALEM  VILLAGE 

In  the  year  1670  the  provincial  parliament  of  Normandy 
condemned  a  dozen  women,  young  and  old,  to  be  burned  at 
the  stake.  Their  crime  was  attendance  upon  the  Witches' 
Sabbath.  An  appeal  was  taken  to  the  Crown,  and  Louis  XIV 
Louis  XIV.  was  persuaded  to  spare  their  lives  on  commutes 
condition  that  they  should  leave  the  kingdom  and   tence  of 

J  .  °  death 

never  return.  Astonishment  and  indignation  greeted    imposed 
this  exercise  of  royal  clemency,  and  the  provincial   alleged 
parliament  sent  a  petition  to  the  king  containing 
a  grave  remonstrance  :  "  Your  parliament  have  thought  it 
their  duty  on  occasion  of  these  crimes,  the  greatest  which 
men  can  commit,  to  make  you  acquainted  with  the  general 
and  uniform  feeling  of  the  people  of  this  province  with  re- 
gard to  them  ;  it  being  moreover  a  question  in  which  are 
concerned  the  glory  of  God  and  the  relief  of  your  suffering 
subjects,  who  groan  under  their  fears  from  the  threats  and 
menaces  of  this  sort  of  persons.   .   .   .  We  humbly  supplicate 
your  Majesty  to  reflect  once  more  upon  the  extraordinary 
results  which  proceed  from  the  malevolence  of  these    The  parlia. 
people ;  on  the  loss  of  goods  and  chattels,  and  the   ^"mand 
deaths   from   unknown   diseases,   which   are  often   protests 
the  consequence  of  their  menaces  ;  ...  all  of  which   may 
easily  be  proved  to  your  Majesty's  satisfaction  by  the  records 
of  various  trials  before  your  parliaments."     It  is  pleasant  to 
be  able  to  add  that  Louis  XIV.  was  too  well  versed  in  the 
professional  etiquette  of  royalty  to  withdraw  a  pardon  which 
he  had  once  granted,  and  so  the  poor  women  were  saved 


122      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

from  the  flames.    What  we  have  especially  to  note  is  that 
the  highest  court  of  Normandy,  representing  the  best  legal 


LOUIS    XIV 


knowledge  of  that  province,  in  defining  witchcraft  as  the  in- 
fliction of  disease  or  the  destruction  of  property  by  unknown 
and  mysterious  means,  describes  it  as  the  greatest  of  all 
crimes,  and  has  no  more  doubt  of  its  reality  than  of  burglary 
or  highway  robbery.1 

1  [For  the  original  text  and  further  particulars  in  regard  to  this  peti- 
tion Lecky  refers  to  Garinet,  Histoire  de  la  Magie  en  France,  p.  337. 
Cf.  also  Rambaud,  Hist,  de  la  Civilisation  Francaise,  ii.  154.  "In 
1672,  Colbert  directed  the  magistrates  to  receive  no  accusations  of 
sorcery."     Lecky,  Hist,  of  Rationalism,  i.  118.] 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM   VILLAGE  123 

This  unquestioning  belief  in  the  reality  of  witchcraft  has 
been  shared  by  the  whole  human  race,  civilized  and  uncivil- 
ized alike,  from  prehistoric  ages  to  the  end  of  the  The  belief 
seventeenth  century.1  There  are  tribes  of  men  UsSS- 
with  minds  so  little  developed  that  travellers  have  versal 
doubted  the  existence  of  religious  ideas  among  them  ;  but 
none  have  been  found  so  low  as  not  to  have  some  notion 
of  witchcraft.  Indeed,  one  of  the  most  primitive  and  funda- 
mental shapes  which  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  takes 
in  the  savage  mind  is  the  assumed  connection  between  dis- 
ease or  death  and  some  malevolent  personal  agency.  The 
conceptions  of  natural  disease  and  natural  death  are  attain- 
able only  by  civilized  minds.  To  the  savage,  who  has  scarcely 
an  inkling  of  such  a  thing  as  laws  of  nature,  all  death  is  re- 
garded as  murder,  either  at  the  hands  of  a  superhuman  power 
that  must  be  propitiated,  or  at  the  hands  of  some  human 
being  upon  whom  vengeance  may  be  wreaked.    The  inter- 

1  [For  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  history  of  witchcraft  and  allied 
occult  phenomena,  from  the  standpoint  of  modern  psychology,  see 
Alfr.  Lehman,  Aberglaube  u?id  Zanberei,  Stuttgart,  1898.  Mr.  Lecky's 
opening  chapter  on  Magic  and  Witchcraft,  in  his  History  of  Ration- 
alism, still  remains  for  the  English  reader  the  most  convenient  sketch 
of  witchcraft  in  modern  times.  On  the  rise  of  modern  witchcraft,  the 
most  scholarly  investigation  in  English  is  that  of  H.  C.  Lea,  in  his  In- 
quisition in  the  Middle  Ages,  vol.  iii.  chaps,  vi.  and  vii. 

Recently  there  has  appeared  an  investigation  into  the  beginnings  of 
the  witchcraft  delusion  that  surpasses  all  previous  works  in  scientific 
thoroughness.  It  is  Joseph  Hansen's  Quellen  und  Untersuchungen  zur 
Geschichte  der  Hexenwahns  und  der  Hexenverfolgung  im  Mittelalter, 
Bonn,  190 1.  Hansen  has  presented  his  results  in  popular  form  in  his 
Zauberwahn,  Inquisition  und  die  Entstehung  der  Grossen  Hexenver- 
folgung, Munich,  1901.  In  the  Report  of  the  A?nerican  Hist.  Assoc. 
for  1890  will  be  found  an  admirably  compact  and  learned  sketch  of 
"  The  Literature  of  Witchcraft,"  by  Professor  George  L.  Burr.  An 
excellent  selection  of  extracts  illustrating  the  belief  in  witchcraft,  the 
methods  of  trial,  and  the  growth  of  the  opposition  is  given  in  Professor 
Burr's  The  Witch-Persecutions,  a  pamplet  published  by  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania.] 


124      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

pretation  of  disease  is  the  same,  and  hence  one  of  the  chief 
occupations  of  medicine-men  and  priests  among  barbarous 
races  is  the  detection  and  punishment  of  witches.1  Hence 
among  all  the  superstitions,  —  or  things  that  have  "  stood 
vitality  of  over  "  from  primeval  ages,  —  the  belief  in  witch- 
the  belief  craft  has  been  the  most  deeply  rooted  and  the  most 
tenacious  of  life.  In  all  times  and  places,  until  quite  lately 
among  the  most  advanced  communities,  the  reality  of  witch- 
craft has  been  accepted  without  question,  and  scarcely  any 
human  belief  is  supported  by  so  vast  a  quantity  of  recorded 
testimony. 

At  the  present  day,  among  communities  like  our  own,  we 
may  observe  a  wonderful  change.  Among  educated  people 
the  belief  in  witchcraft  is  practically  extinct.  It  has  not 
simply  ceased  to  be  taken  seriously,  but  it  has  vanished  from 
people's  minds.  We  recognize  it  as  one  of  the  grotesque 
features  in  an  Indian's  theory  of  things,  or  perhaps  we  find 
it  cropping  out  among  the  odds  and  ends  of  diabolism  that 
the  negro  mind  retains  from  the  old  stock  of  African  folk- 
lore, but  we  no  longer  associate  such  a  belief  with  civilized 
men,  and  a  good  deal  of  historical  study  is  needed  to  enable 
us  to  realize  adequately  its  omnipresence  only  two  centuries 
ago. 

What  has  caused  this  remarkable  change  in  our  mental 
attitude  toward  witchcraft  ?  Surely  not  argument.  Nobody 
Cause  of  has  ever  refuted  the  evidence  that  once  seemed  so 
decay©!  conclusive  in  favour  of  the  belief.  For  the  most 
the  belief  part  we  should  now  regard  that  evidence  as  not 
worth  the  trouble  of  refuting.  Some  powerful  cause  has 
made  our  minds  insuperably  inhospitable  to  such  sort  of  evi- 
dence.    That  cause  is  the  gigantic  development  of  physical 

1  [On  the  stubborn  resistance  made  in  modern  times  to  the  displace- 
ment of  the  Satanic  theory  of  disease  and  disaster  by  scientific  theories, 
see  A.  D.  White,  History  of  the  Warfare  of  Science  with  Theology, 
chaps,  xi.-xvi.] 


TRYAL 

WITCHES, 

AT     THE 

ASSIZES 

HELD     AT 

'Bury  St.  Edmonds  for  the  County 

of    SUFFOLK-    on    the 

Tenth  day  of  March,  1664. 

BEFORE 

Sir  Matthew  Hale  Kr 

THEN 

Lord  Chief  (Baron  of  His  Maje fries 
Court  of  EXCHEQJ4  Eq(. 


Taken  by  a  Pcrion  then  Attending  the  Court 


L  0  N  D  0  A7, 

Printed  for  WiUiam  Sbrtwskry  at  the 
Bible  in  Duck-Lane.     1682. 


TITLE    OF    "A    TRYAL    OF    WITCHES 


126  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

science  since  the  days  of  Newton  and  Descartes.  The  minds 
of  civilized  people  have  become  familiar  with  the  conception 
of  natural  law,  and  that  conception  has  simply  stifled  the  old 
superstition  as  clover  chokes  out  weeds.  It  has  been  observed 
Riseofphy-  tnat  tne  existence  of  evidence  in  favour  of  witch- 
sicai  science  craf  t  closely  depends  upon  the  disposition  to  believe 
it,  so  that  when  the  latter  ceases  the  former  disappears. 
Accordingly  we  find  no  difficulty  in  understanding  the  uni- 
versality of  the  belief  until  quite  modern  times.  The  dis- 
position to  believe  was  one  of  the  oldest  inheritances  of  the 
human  mind,  while  the  capacity  for  estimating  evidence  in 
cases  of  physical  causation  is  one  of  its  very  latest  and  most 
laborious  acquisitions. 

In  1664  there  was  a  witch  trial  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds  in 
Suffolk.  The  presiding  justice  was  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  one 
of  the  most  eminent  and  learned  of  English  judges, 
witch  trial  Two  aged  widows,  Amy  Duny  and  Rose  Cullen- 
Matthew  der,  were  indicted  for  bewitching  six  young  girls 
and  one  baby  boy.  This  infant  was  seized  with 
fainting  turns,  and  his  mother,  suspecting  witchcraft,  took 
counsel  of  a  country  doctor,  who  told  her  to  hang  the  child's 
crib  blanket  all  day  in  the  chimney  corner,  and  if  on  taking 
it  down  at  nightfall  she  should  see  anything  strange  there, 
she  was  not  to  be  afraid  of  it,  but  to  throw  it  into  the  fire. 
Well,  when  she  was  putting  the  baby  to  bed  she  took  down 
the  blanket,  and  a  big  toad  fell  out  and  hopped  about  the 
hearth.  "Oh,  put  it  in  the  fire,  quick,"  said  she  to  a  boy 
present,  who  forthwith  seized  the  poor  toad  with  a  pair  of 
tongs  and  held  it  in  the  blaze.  There  was  a  flashing  as  of 
Grotesque  powder,  and  a  strange  noise,  and  then  the  toad  van- 
evidence  ished  ;  but  that  same  evening  Amy  Duny  sitting 
by  her  own  fireside  had  her  face  all  smirched  and  scorched. 
Of  course  Amy  was  the  toad,  and  it  was  natural  that  she 
should  be  vexed  at  such  treatment,  so  that  when  the  baby's 
sister  suddenly  sickened  and  died,  and  its  mother  grew  lame 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  127 

enough  to  use   crutches,  it  was   all   clearly  due   to  Amy's 
diabolical  arts.     Absolute  demonstration  was  reached  when 


(TA<aifr*sU>  li-a^s 


Amy  was  sentenced  to  death,  for  then  her  witch-power  ceased, 
and  the  lame  woman  forthwith  threw  away  her  crutches  and 
walked  as  briskly  as  anybody. 

The  other  afflicted  children  complained  of  griping  pains, 
and  vomited  crooked  pins  and  twopenny  nails.  In  the  court- 
room when  Amy  Duny  or  Rose  Cullender  came  near  to  them, 
they  threw  their  aprons  over   their  heads   and   writhed  in 


128  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

agony.  It  happened  that  among  the  magistrates  present 
were  some  hard-headed  Sadducees.  Lord  Cornwallis  and  Sir 
Edmund  Bacon  suspected  these  fits  and  torments  of  being  a 
indications  wicked  sham.  They  blindfolded  the  girls,  and  had 
mingam  other  old  women  approach  and  touch  them.  The 
ignored  girls  went  off  into  fits  every  time  without  discrimi- 
nating between  Rose  or  Amy  and  the  other  women.  But 
this  trifling  flaw  in  the  case  was  nothing  when  set  off  against 
the  weighty  evidence  of  a  witness  who  declared  that  Rose 
Cullender  had  given  him  hard  words,  and  shortly  afterwards 
his  hay-cart  was  stuck  in  passing  through  a  gate.  Another 
deposed  that  Amy  Duny  had  said,  "  That  chimney  of  yours 
will  be  falling  down  one  of  these  days,"  and  so  sure  enough 
it  did.  After  this  there  could  be  no  doubt  in  any  reasonable 
mind  that  Rose  had  bewitched  the  cart  and  Amy  the  chim- 
ney. The  learned  justice  in  his  charge  aimed  a  rebuke  at 
the  scepticism  exhibited  by  some  of  the  magis- 
thew  Hale     trates ;  he  declared  that  the  reality  of  witchcraft 

affirms  the  ... 

reality  of  was  not  open  to  question,  since  it  was  expressly 
affirmed  in  Holy  Writ,  and  provided  for  in  the 
criminal  codes  of  all  nations.  The  jury  took  less  than  half 
an  hour  to  agree  upon  their  verdict  of  guilty ;  and  next  week 
the  two  old  dames  were  hanged  at  Cambridge,  protesting 
their  innocence  with  their  last  breath.1 

Upon  just  such  so-called  "evidence"  more  thousands  of 
innocent  persons  than  it  will  ever  be  possible  to  enumerate 
have  been  put  to  death  under  the  forms  of  law.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  accept  all  the  wholesale  figures  mentioned  by  old  his- 
torians, yet  the  figures  for  which  we  have  good  authority  are 
sufficiently  dreadful.  In  general  we  may  regard  it  as  prob- 
able that  during  the  Middle  Ages  executions  for  witchcraft 
occurred  with  much  the  same  monotonous  regularity  as  exe- 

1  Linton's  Witch  Stories,  p.  395.  [Cotton  Mather  printed  an  account 
of  this  trial  in  his  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,  London  reprint, 
1862,  pp.  111-120.  He  says  it  "was  a  Tryal  much  considered  by  the 
Judges  of  New  England."     Ibid.  p.  in.] 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM   VILLAGE  129 

cutions  for  murder  and  other  felonies,  but  from  time  to  time 
there  were  epidemics  of  terror  when  the  number  of  victims 
was  fearfully  swelled.     Now  the  famous  bull  of  Pope  Inno- 
cent VIII.  against  witchcraft,  published  in   1484, 
marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of   witchcraft 

superstition 

the  superstition.1  As  literature  and  art  have  had 
their  Golden  Ages,  so  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centu- 
ries were  especially  the  Sulphurous  Age  of  the  witchcraft 
delusion.  It  was  the  period  when  the  Church  of  Rome  was 
engaged  in  a  life  and  death  struggle  with  heresy,  and  obnox- 
ious persons  suspected  of  heresy  could  sometimes  be  de- 
stroyed by  a  charge  of  witchcraft  when  there  was  no  other 
method  of  reaching  them.  Thus  the  universal  superstition 
was  enlisted  in  the  service  of  a  militant  and  unscrupulous 
ecclesiastical  organization  with  effects  that  were  frightful. 
As  it  was  understood  that  the  diabolical  crime  of  witchcraft 
was  now  to  be  stamped  out  once  for  all,  the  evidences  of  it 
were  naturally  found  in  plenty.  The  "Malleus 
Maleficarum,"   or  Hammer  of  Witches,2  published   merof 

«       1  1  1       r     1  1  •  Witches 

in  1489,  became  the  great  text-book  of  the  subject, 

and  at  no  time  since  history  began  have  the  fires  of  hell  been 

so  often  lighted  upon  earth  as  in  the  course  of  the  next  two 

centuries. 

We  are  told  by  Martin  del  Rio  that  in  1 5 1 5  not  less  than 
500  witches  were  executed  in  the  single  city  of  Geneva  ;  and 
a  certain  inquisitor  named  Remigio  boasted  that  in  his  district, 
in  the  north  of  Italy,  within  fifteen  years  he  had  personally 
superintended  the  burning  of  more  than  900  such  crimi- 
nals.3   In  Scotland,  from  1560  to  1600,  the  average  annual 

1  [This  bull  is  given  in  an  English  translation  by  Burr,  The  Witch' 
Persecutions,  pp.  7-10.] 

2  [An  extract  from  this  book  is  given  by  Burr,  The  Witch-Persectttions, 
and  an  analysis  of  it  in  Roskoff's  Geschichte  des  Teufels,  ii.  226-292. 
Cf.  also  Hansen,  as  above.] 

8  [Williams,  The  Superstitions  of  Witchcraft,  p.  107.  See  also  White, 
Warfare  of  Science  and  Theology,  i.  358,  359.] 


130  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

number  of  victims  was  200,  making  a  grim  and  ghastly  total 
of  8000  for  the  forty  years.  Or,  to  put  it  in  another  form, 
the  executions  averaged  four  each  week  in  a  population  about 
equal  to  that  of  Massachusetts  at  the  present  day.  In  1597 
that  grotesque  royal  author,  James  VI.,  published  at  Edin- 
burgh his  treatise  on  "  Daemonologie, "  in  which  he  main- 
King  James  tained  that  against  so  foul  a  crime  as  witchcraft 
ftyofwiteh-  any  sort  °^  evidence  is  good  enough,  and  the  tes- 
craft  timony  of  very  young  children,  or  of  persons  of 

the  vilest  character,  ought  on  no  account  to  be  omitted.  In 
the  course  of  our  story  we  shall  see  that  James  was  by  no 
means  singular  in  this  absurd  style  of  reasoning.  In  1604, 
scarcely  more  than  a  year  after  he  had  become  King  of 
England,  Parliament  passed  the  famous  "  Witch  Act,"  which 
remained  on  the  statute-book  until  the  reign  of  George  II. 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  that  trials  and  execu- 
tions under  the  Witch  Act  were  most  frequent.  While  the 
m    ,  ,         Long-  Parliament  was  in  session  the  affair  attained 

The  delu-  ° 

sion  in-         almost  the  proportions  of  an  epidemic,  but  under 

creases  with  -   _  i  i  i     i  i 

the  rise  of  the  rule  of  Cromwell  there  was  a  sudden  halt,  and 
party  t"ai  thereafter  the  delusion  never  fully  recovered  its 
power  hold  upon  the  community.     Cases   like  those  of 

Amy  Duny  and  Rose  Cullender  were  sporadic.  In  that  age 
of  Newton  and  Locke,  the  whole  baleful  troop  of  demons 
were  spreading  their  wings  for  their  final  flight  from  this 
world. 

The  last  executions  for  witchcraft,  however,  occurred  in 
England  in  17 12  and  in  Scotland  in  1722.1     W7e 

Last  execu- 

tions  for       may  observe  in  passing  that  in  Germany  the  case 
of  Maria  Renata,  a  nun  beheaded  for  witchcraft,  oc- 
curred as  late  as  1749,  the  year  in  which  Goethe  was  born.2 

1  [Cf.  Lecky,  i.  139.] 

2  [On  this  case  see  White,  Warfare  of  Science,  ii.  121  and  156.  He 
refers  in  particular  to  an  essay  on  Maria  (or  Anna)  Renata  by  Johannes 
Scherr  in  his  Hammerschlage  und  Historien.'] 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  131 

Considering  the  fact  that  the  exodus  of  Puritans  to  New 
England  occurred  during  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  while  the 
prosecutions  for  witchcraft  were  increasing  toward  a  maxi- 
mum in  the  mother  country,  it  is  rather  strange  that  so  few 
cases  occurred  in  the  New  World.  It  was  already  noted  in 
Cromwell's  time  that  Independency  in  ecclesiastical  matters 
seemed  to  be  attended  by  a  diminution  of  activity  in  the 
world  of  witches,  but  on  the  other  hand  the  Independents 
who  came  over  to  New  England  voluntarily  thrust  them- 
selves into  a  country  which  was  supposed  to  be  in 

J  x  A  Primitive 

a  special  sense  under  the  direct  control  and  admin-   America 

recorded  *is 

istration  of  the  Devil.  It  was  believed  that  Pagan  a  domain  of 
countries  generally  were  ruled  by  Satan,  and  that 
here  in  the  American  wilderness  that  old  foe  of  mankind 
had  taken  his  stand  to  annoy  and  dishearten  the  Lord's  elect. 
As  for  the  red  men,  it  was  easy  to  see  that  they  were  his 
veritable  imps  ;  their  tricks  and  manners  proclaimed  them 
as  such.  There  could  be  little  doubt  that  the  heathen  New 
World  was  Satan's  Kingdom  ; x  and  in  view  of  this  very  com- 
mon belief  it  is  strange  that  the  instances  of  witchcraft  or 
diabolism  were  so  rare  in  the  early  history  of  New  England. 
During  the  sixty  years  following  the  first  settlement  of 
Boston,  a  dozen  or  more  cases  can  be  enumerated.  The 
first  victim  in  the  New  World  was  Margaret  Jones  of 
Charlestown,  who  had  some  sensible  ideas  about  medicine. 
She  disapproved  of  wholesale  bleeding  and  violent  emetics, 
and  used  to  work  cures  by  means  of  herb  tonics  The  first 
and  other  simple  prescriptions.  This  offended  the  ^^cra/t"5 
doctors,  and  in  1 648  the  poor  woman  was  tried  for  jjf1  Jg°n 
witchcraft,  convicted,  and  hanged.  Governor  Win-  England 
throp,  who  tells  the  story,  adds  that  at  the  very  hour  of  her 
execution  there  was  a  great  gale  in  Connecticut,  which  blew 
down  trees,  and  this  he  considers  an  absolute  demonstration 

1  [See  Cotton  Mather,  The  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,  Lon- 
don, 1693,  London  reprint,  1862,  p.  74.] 


I32      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

of  her  guilt.1  When  Winthrop  wrote  this,  Isaac  Newton 
was  a  child  playing  in  the  nursery.  When  we  see  a  mind 
so  broad  and  cultivated  as  Winthrop' s  entertaining  such 
notions  of  cause  and  effect,  is  it  not  obvious  that  the  main- 
stay and  support  of  the  frightful  superstition  was  ignorance 
of  physical  science  ? 

About  the  same  time,  according  to  Thomas  Hutchinson,  a 
woman  was  hanged  at  Dorchester,  and  another  at  Cambridge, 
for  the  crime  of  witchcraft.  The  next  case  was  a  startling 
one,  on  account  of  the  victim's  social  position.  A  woman 
like  Margaret  Jones,  though  perhaps  educated,  and  such 
as  would  to-day  be  classed  as  a  lady,  was  in  those  times  not 
called  Mrs.  Jones,  but  simply  Goodwife  or  Goody  Jones. 
To  be  Mrs.,  or  Mistress,  one  must  be  the  wife  of  an  esquire, 
and  the  rank  of  esquire  was  as  carefully  guarded  in  common 
forms  of  speech  as  the  rank  of  knight  or  baronet.  The  next 
victim  of  the  witch-delusion  was  Mistress  Ann  Hib- 

The  Ccisc 

of  Mrs.  bins.  Her  husband,  William  Hibbins,  who  died  in 
1654,  had  been  for  twelve  years  a  member  of  the 
council  of  assistants,  and  at  one  time  was  the  colony's  diplo- 
matic agent  in  England.  Her  brother,  Richard  Bellingham, 
was  deputy-governor  of  Massachusetts.  In  1656  this  lady 
was  tried  for  witchcraft  before  Governor  Endicott  and  the 
General  Court.  She  was  found  guilty,  and  was  hanged  on 
Boston  Common  on  the  19th  of  June  of  that  year.  The 
verdict  and  death-warrant  are  in  the  Colonial  Records,2  but 
we  have  no  report  of  the  case,  and  do  not  know  how  the  accu- 
sation was  originated.  Hutchinson,  whose  great-grandfather 
Edward  was  one  of  the  lady's  friends,  believed  it  to  be  a 
case  of  outrageous  persecution,  and  so  some  of  her  contem- 
poraries regarded  it.     The  Rev.  John  Norton,  persecutor  of 

1  [See  Winthrop,  ii.  326  (rev.  ed.,  ii.  397);  W.   F.  Poole,  ATo.  A?n. 
Rev.,  April,  1869,  pp.  343,  344.] 

2  [Mass.  Records,  iv.  pt.  i.  269.     The  record  is  quoted  in  Winsor's 
Memorial  Hist,  of  Boston,  ii.  139.] 


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134  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

Quakers,  was  by  temperament  quick  to  see  marks  of  Satan's 
presence,  but  he  tried  his  best  to  save  Mrs.  Hibbins,  and 
a  victim  of  afterward  spoke  of  her  accusers  with  his  customary 
Sg 'through  sarcasm.  Mrs.  Hibbins  was  hanged,  he  said,  "  only 
superstition  for  navmg  m0re  wit  than  her  neighbours." 2  One 
day  she  saw  two  persons  whom  she  knew  to  be  unfriendly  to 
her  talking  together  in  the  street,  whereupon  she  exclaimed 
that  she  knew  they  were  talking  about  her.  Her  guess  be- 
ing correct  was  forthwith  cited  against 

her  as  an  instance  of  supernatural  in-      7«nn      fCor/vn. 
sight  which  must  have  been  imparted 

to  her  by  the  Devil.  According  to  Norton  this  argument  had 
great  weight  with  the  court.  It  is  a  pity,  and  it  is  strange 
too,  that  we  know  so  little  of  this  case,  for  there  must  have 
been  something  extraordinary  in  the  circumstances  that  could 
thus  send  to  the  gallows  one  of  the  foremost  persons  in  that 
colonial  society.  There  is  evidence  that  the  affair  created 
fierce  excitement  and  left  much  bitterness  behind.  There 
were  many  in  Boston  who  insisted  that  a  saint  had  been 
wickedly  done  to  death  by  slanderous  tongues. 

Out  of  a  dozen  cases  in  the  course  of  the  next  thirty 
years  we  find  several  acquittals,  and  once  in  a  while  we  en- 
counter a  gleam  of  genuine  common  sense,  as  in  the  case  of 
John  Bradstreet  of  Rowley,  who  was  accused  of  familiarity 
with  the  Devil ;  forasmuch  as  the  said  Bradstreet  confessed 
that  he  had  "  read  in  a  book  of  magic,  and  that  he  heard  a 
A  sensible  v°ice  asking  him  what  work  he  had  for  him.  He 
w  answered,   'Go  make  a  bridge  of  sand  over   the 

sea  ;  go  make  a  ladder  of  sand  up  to  heaven,  and  go  to  God, 
and  come  down  no  more.'  "  When  the  case  was  tried  at 
Ipswich,  the  jury  found  that  the  said  Bradstreet  lied,  where- 
upon the  court  sentenced  him  to  pay  twenty  shillings  fine  or 
else  to  be  whipped.2 

1  [Hutchinson's  Hist,  of  Mass.,  i.  173.] 

2  [Nevins,  Witchcraft  in  Salem  Village,  p.  34.  This  case  occurred 
in  1652J 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  135 

More  disastrous  was  the  case  of  the  Goodwin  children  in 
Boston  in  1688.  An  Irish  Catholic  woman  named  Glover 
was  laundress  for  John  Goodwin's  family,  in  which  there 
were  four  children.  One  day  the  eldest  child,  Martha,  aged 
thirteen,  accused  the  Glover  woman  of  purloining  some 
pieces  of  linen.  Glover  answered  with  threats  and  curses, 
and  Martha  presently  fell  down  in  a  fit.  The  other  children 
—  aged  eleven,  seven,  and  five —  soon  followed  her  example. 
Then  they  went  through  with  all  sorts  of  pranks  :  The  Good_ 
they  would  pretend  to  be  deaf  and  dumb;  they  win  children 
would  complain  of  being  pricked  with  pins  or  cut  with 
knives  ;  they  would  bark  like  dogs  and  purr  like  cats  ;  they 
even  performed  feats  of  what  modern  spirit-rappers  call 
"  levitation,"  skimming  over  the  ground  without  appearing 
to  touch  it,  seeming,  as  Cotton  Mather  said,  to  "fry  like 
geese."  This  sort  of  thing  went  on  for  several  weeks. 
Doctors  and  ministers  agreed  that  the  children  must  have 
been  bewitched  by  the  Glover  woman,  and  she  was  accord- 
ingly hanged. 

The  chief  interest  in  this  case  arises  from  Cotton  Mather's 
connection  with   it.     That  famous  divine,  son   of   Increase 
Mather  and  grandson  of  John  Cotton,  was  then  five   Cotton 
and  twenty  years  of  age.     He  had  been  graduated    Mather 
at  Harvard  ten  years  before,  his  career  as  an  author  had  al- 
ready begun,  and  he  was  already  regarded  as  the  most  learned 
man  of  his  time.     The  range  of  his  reading  was  enormous. 
Theology,  philosophy,  history,  literature,  physical  science,  in 
all  these  he  was  omnivorous,  and  he  could  write  and  speak  at 
least  seven  languages  (one  of  them  the  Iroquois)  with  fluency 
and  precision.1      In  the  course  of  his  life  he  published  nearly 
four  hundred  books   and  tracts,  most  of  which  bring  a  high 
price  now,  while  some  are  indispensable  to  the  stu-    His 
dent  of  history.     He  was  an  earnest  and  severely   character 
conscientious  man.     His  chief  foible  was  vanity,  which  was 
1  [Samuel  Mather.  Life  of  Cotton  Mather,  p.  49.] 


136  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

perhaps  not  strange  in  view  of  the  wholesale  homage  and 
adulation  to  which  he  was  accustomed.  He  was  not  a 
profound  or  original  thinker,  nor  was  he  free  from  the 
errors  and  superstitions  characteristic  of  his  time  ;  but  in 
most  matters  his  face  was  set  toward  the  future  and  his 
His  courage  work  was  helpful  to  mankind.  In  172 1,  in  spite 
Sng^nocu-1"  °f  furious  opposition  and  some  personal  peril,  he 
lation  succeeded  in  introducing  into  America  inoculation 

for  smallpox,1  the  most  conspicuous  among  many  instances 
in  which  he  showed  himself  wiser  than  his  contemporaries. 
With  his  other  fine  qualities  he  was  a  man  of  loving  heart 
and  gracious  sympathies.  But  in  the  disputes  and  conflicts 
of  his  time  he  took  too  prominent  a  part  to  get  along  with- 
out making  enemies  ;  and  so  it  happened  that  after  the  witch- 
craft delusion  had  become  thoroughly  discredited,  a  malicious 
writer  saw  fit  to  distort  and  misrepresent  his  relations  to  it. 
The  slanders  of  Robert  Calef  became  the  commonplaces  of 
historical  writers   in  a   later  generation,   and  the 

Views  of 

Calef  and      memory  of  Cotton  Mather  has  been  held   up   to 

Upham  .  r      ,  itt 

scorn  as  that  or  the  man  who  did  more  than  any 
one  else  to  stimulate  and  foster  the  witchcraft  delusion  in 
Massachusetts.  This  view  is  maintained  by  Charles  Went- 
worth  Upham,  in  his  history  of  "  Salem  Witchcraft,"  pub- 
lished in  1867  m  two  volumes,  the  most  learned  and  elabo- 
rate work  on  the  subject.2  It  was  repeated  at  second  hand 
from  older  writers  and  embellished  with  cheap  rhetoric  by 
George  Bancroft,  and  has  usually  been  copied  by  the  makers 
of  compendiums  and  school-books;  so  that  it  has  obtained  a 
firm  lodgment  in  the  popular  mind.  The  correct  view  of 
Cotton  Mather's  relations  to  witchcraft  was  first  set  forth  in 


1  [See  Peabody's  Life  of  Cotton  Mather,  pp.  311-326.] 

2  [For  the  literature  of  this  subject,  see  G.  H.  Moore,  Bibliographical 
Notes  on  Witchcraft  in  Massachusetts,  Worcester,  1888,  and  Justin 
Winsor,  "  The  Literature  of  Witchcraft  in  New  England,"  Proceedings 
of  the  American  Antiqtiarian  Soc,  1895.] 


6.  m&t&w 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  137 

Longfellow's  "  New  England  Tragedies,"  published  in  1868. 
The  poet  had  studied  the  original  documents  with  profound 
attention,  and  his  fine  critical  insight  had  detected  the  truth 
when  Upham,  the  Dryasdust  specialist,  had  missed  it.  But 
the  first  full  and  adequate  statement  of  the  case  Mr  w  F 
was  made  in  1869  by  the  late  William  Frederick  Poole 
Poole,  who  was  at  that  time  librarian  of  the  Boston  Athe- 
naeum.1 Cultivation  of  the  critical  faculty  and  the  exercise 
of  it  upon  original  sources  of  information  are  perpetually 
obliging  us  to  modify,  and  sometimes  to  reverse,  long-accepted 
judgments  upon  historical  characters  and  events.  In  the 
present  brief  narrative  I  shall  simply  indicate,  without  con- 
troversy, the  true  position  of  Cotton  Mather. 

His  connection  with  the  Goodwin  case  began  late.  He  was 
the  last  minister  invited  to  attend.  He  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  accusation  or  prosecution  of  the  poor  laundress,  but 
after  her  death  sentence  he  visited  her  twice  in  Cotton 
prison  to  pray  for  her.  She  confessed  to  him  that  JJeQor0d.nd 
she  had  made  a  covenant  with  Satan,  and  was  in  win  case 
the  habit  of  going  to  meetings  at  which  that  personage  was 
present.  She  was  utterly  impenitent  and  wanted  none  of  his 
prayers.  "  However,"  as  he  says  so  sweetly  in  his  account 
of  the  matter,  "  against  her  will  I  prayed  with  her,  which,  if  it 
were  a  fault,  it  was  in  excess  of  pity."  In  her  confession  she 
implicated  several  other  persons  by  name,  but  Mather  never 
divulged  any  of  these  names,  for,  as  he  said,  "we  should 
be  very  tender  in  such  relation,  lest  we  wrong  the  repu- 
tation of  the  innocent  by  stories  not  enough  inquired  into." 
About  the  time  of  this  woman's  execution  Mather  took  the 
little  accuser,  Martha  Goodwin,  into  his  own  home  and  kept 
her  there  for  several  months,  partly  as  a  subject  for  investi- 
gation, partly  as  a  patient  to  be  cured  by  prayer  and  judicious 

1  [Mr.  Poole's  paper  was  published  in  the  No.  Am.  Review  in  April, 
1869.  Mr.  Upham  replied  to  it  in  The  Historical  Magazine  in  Sep- 
tember, 1869.] 


138  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

treatment,1  for.  this  brilliant  young  clergyman  was  also  a 
doctor  in  medicine  of  no  mean  attainments,  besides  knowing- 
Cotton  more  law,  and  knowing  it  to  better  purpose,  than 
the  Good-nd  ^a^  tne  jurists  of  his  time.  The  girl  showed  her- 
win  girl  sejf  an  actress  of  elk-like  precocity  and  shrewd- 
ness. She  wished  to  prove  that  she  was  bewitched,  and  she 
seems  to  have  known  Mather's  prejudices  against  Quakers, 
Papists,  and  the  Church  of  England  ;  for  she  could  read 
Quaker  books  and  Catholic  books  fluently,  and  seemed  quite 
in  love  with  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  but  she  could  not 
Tests  of  be-  rea-d  a  word  in  the  Bible  or  any  book  of  Puritan 
witchment  theology,  and  even  in  her  favourite  Prayer  Book, 
whenever  she  came  to  the  Lord's  Prayer  she  faltered  and 
failed.  Gradually  the  young  minister's  firm  good  sense  and 
kindness  prevailed  in  calming  her  and  making  her  discard 
such  nonsense,  but  during  the  cure  her  symptoms  showed  the 
actress.  She  would  refuse  to  go  into  the  study,  lined  with  its 
goodly  tomes  of  Greek  and  Hebrew,  because  her  devils  for- 
bade it ;  then  she  would  go  into  hysterics  of  six-young-lady- 
power  until  it  occurred  to  some  one  of  the  family  to  drag  her, 
all  screams  and  kicks,  into  the  sacred  room  ;  then  she  would 
instantly  grow  quiet  and  say  that  the  accursed  thing  had  just 
gone  from  her  in  the  form  of  a  mouse,  —  which  was  of  course 
a  bit  of  ancient  Teutonic  folk-lore,  a  remnant  of  the  doctrine 
of  changelings,  implicitly  believed  by  our  ancestors  when 
they  lived  in  what  Freeman  used  to  call  Oldest  England,  be- 
fore ever  Hengist  and  Horsa  sailed  for  Kent.  After  a  while 
the  little  minx  was  cured  ;  her  distemper  gave  way  to  kind 
patience  and  common  sense,  and  the  affair  went  no  farther. 
Cotton  Mather  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  reality  of  witch- 

1  ["  I  took  her  home  to  my  own  family,  partly  out  of  compassion  to 
her  parents,  but  chiefly  that  I  might  be  a  critical  eye-witness  of  things 
that  would  enable  me  to  confute  the  Sadducism  of  this  debauch'd  age." 
Mather's  Magnalia,  ii.  460  (Hartford  ed.,  1853).  The  Magnalia  was 
first  published  in  1700.] 


I 


Relating  to  \J  •-*'.. 

WITCHCRAFTS  /: 

r     And      PO'SS  ESS. 1.0  N  S. 

A  Faithful  Acconnt  ofinany-Wonderful  anefsur- 
prihng  Things,  that  have  befallen  feveral**- 
nvebed  and  fofijfed  Perfohs  in  New-England. 
Particularly,  A.  NARRATIVE  of  the  marvellous 
Trouble  .and  Refaf  Experienced  by  a  pious  Fa-* 
0ly  \r\Bofion%  very  lately  <and  fadiy  moicfte& 
witii   EVIL    SPIRITS'.*  •     , 

^hereunto  is  ddded^        .   ;  , 
A  Difcourfe  delivered  unto  a  Congregation  ia 
£ojhn7  on  theOccafionofthati/i«^o^  *r«- 
1  videncs.  ,  As  alfo. 

„  A  Difconrie  delivered  nnto  the  fame  Congrega- 
tion^ on  the  occafion,  of  an  horrible;5ei/-^«r^ 
dtr  Committed  in  the  Towfo.     - 
j  4)W^ith  an  Xfftndix^  in  vindication  of  a  Chapter 
in  a  late"  Book  of  Remarkable  Providences,  from 
the  Calumnies  of  a  Quaker^at  Pe&ftlvama. 

Mrrintn  By  Cotton  Mather,  Mimfter  of  the  GofpeL\ 

And  Recommended  by  the  Miniftert 
of  Moftom  and  Chsrlefion 


I  Printed  at  Boftm  mNExgUnd  byX.P.   (*4£*| 
r  s  Sold  by  Jofe$y£rwmin&  at  his  Shop  at  the  Cor*  \ 
gtt  of  the  frrfiaJ^m  sisnt  iks  Exskfgfo 

TITLE    OF    COTTON    MATHER'S    "MEMORABLE    PROVIDENCES" 


J 


140  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

craft.  He  published  an  account  of  this  case  and  its  cure.1 
His  object  in  the  publication  was  twofold  :  first,  to  prove  the 
Mather  reality  of  witchcraft  against  a  few   bold  sceptics 

accbounhteofan  wno  were  lately  beginning  to  doubt  it,  in  spite  of 
this  case  the  teachings  of  Holy  Writ ;  secondly,  to  show  the 
best  method  of  effecting  a  cure.  In  this  second  point  he  was 
in  advance  of  his  age,  and  had  others  been  as  discreet  and 
self-contained  as  he,  there  need  have  been  no  such  tragedy  as 
was  soon  to  be  enacted  in  Salem.  All  personal  and  local 
references,  whatever  could  give  the  mania  a  concrete  hold  and 
a  chance  to  work  bodily  mischief,  he  had  kept,  and  ever  after 
kept,  locked  up  within  his  own  breast.  He  had  evidence 
enough,  perhaps,  to  have  hung  half  the  old  women  in  Boston, 
but  his  strong  common  sense  taught  him  that  the  Devil  is  too 
tricksome  a  rascal  to  be  worthy  of  much  credit  as  an  accuser. 
His  rules  of  evidence  were  far  in  advance  of  those  upon  which 
the  great  lawyer,  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  had  condemned  people 
to  death  only  four  and  twenty  years  before.  Mather's  rules 
would  not  have  allowed  a  verdict  of  guilty  simply  upon  the 
drivelling  testimony  of  the  afflicted  persons ;  and  if  this 
wholesome  caution  had  been  observed,  not  a  witch  would 
ever  have  been  hung  at  Salem. 

Some  writers  have  thought  that  the  mere  publication  of 
Mather's  book  must  have  led  to  the  outbreak  of  the  delusion 
in  Salem,  since  it  must  have  helped  put  such  ideas  into  the 
heads  of  Salem  people.  But  this  is  forgetting  that  the 
Cotton  superstitious   ideas  were   in   everybody's   head   al- 

Mather's       ready.     Not  a  man,  woman,  or  child  in  Massachu- 

book  and  J 

the  Salem      setts,  or  elsewhere  in  the  civilized  world,  but  knew 

exactly  how  a  witch  should  behave.     Tracts  and 

chap-books  on  the  wretched  subject  abounded,  and  poisoned 

1  [Mather's  account  of  this  case  was  included  in  his  Memorable 
Providences,  relating  to  Witchcrafts  and  Possessions,  etc.,  Boston,  1689. 
Reprinted  in  London  in  1691  as  Late  Memorable  Providences,  etc.  He 
also  gave  a  full  account  in  his  Magnalia,  Hartford  ed.,  ii.  456-465.J 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  141 

young  minds  as  dime  novels  do  in  our  time.  Even  if  Mather 
had  written  nothing,  the  execution  of  the  Irish  laundress  and 
the  pranks  of  her  little  accusers  were  familiar  topics  at  every 
fireside  in  New  England. 

But   in    1692,  quite   apart   from   any  personal   influence, 
there  were  circumstances  which  favoured  the  outbreak  of  an 
epidemic  of  witchcraft.     In  this   ancient  domain   of  Satan 
there  were  indications  that  Satan  was  beginning 
again  to  claim  his  own.     War  had  broken  out  with   outlook 
that  Papist  champion,  Louis  XIV.,  and  it  had  so  far 
been  going  badly  with  God's  people  in  America.    The  shrieks 
of  the  victims  at  Schenectady  and  Salmon  Falls  and  Fort 
Loyal  still  made  men's  blood  run  cold  in  their  veins  ;  and  the 
great  expedition  against  Quebec  had  come  home  crestfallen 
with  defeat.     Evidently  the  Devil  was  bestirring  himself ;  it 
was  a  witching  time ;  the  fuel  for  an  explosion  was  laid,  and 
it  needed  but  a  spark  to  fire  it. 

That  spark  was  provided  by  servants  and  children  in  the 
household  of  Samuel  Parris,  minister  of  the  church  at  Salem 
Village,  a  group  of  outlying  farms  from  three  to  five  miles 
out  from  the  town  of  Salem.  The  place  was  sometimes 
called  Salem  Farms,  and  in  later  times  was  set  off  as  a  sepa- 
rate township  under  the  name  of  Danvers.  Any  one  who 
has  ever  visited  a  small  New  England  village  can  Sa]em 
form  some  idea  of  the  looks  of  the  place,  for  the  Vlllase 
type  is  strongly  characteristic,  and  from  the  days  of  Cotton 
Mather  to  the  introduction  of  railroads  the  changes  were  not 
great.  On  almost  any  country  roadside  in  Massachusetts 
you  may  see  to-day  just  such  wooden  houses  as  that  in  which 
Samuel  Parris  dwelt.  This  clergyman  seems  to  have  lived 
for  some  years  in  the  West  Indies,  engaged  in  commercial 
pursuits,  before  he  turned  his  attention  to  theology.  Some 
special  mercantile  connection  between  Salem  and  Barbadoes 
seems  to  have  brought  him  to  Salem  Village,  where  he  was 
installed  as  pastor  in  1689.    An  entry  in  the  church  records, 


142  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

dated  June  18  of  that  year,  informs  us  that  "it  was  agreed 
and  voted  by  general  concurrence,  that  for  Mr.  Parris  his 

encouragement  and  settlement  in  the  work  of  the 
Parris,  the     ministry  amongst   us,  we  will   give  him   sixty-six 

pounds  for  his  yearly  salary,  —  one  third  paid  in 
money,  the  other  two  third  parts  for  provisions,  etc. ;  and 
Mr.  Parris  to  find  himself  firewood,  and  Mr.  Parris  to  keep 
the  ministry-house  in  good  repair ;  and  that  Mr.  Parris  shall 
also  have  the  use  of  the  ministry-pasture,  and  the  inhabitants 
to  keep  the  fence  in  repair ;  and  that  we  will  keep  up  our 
contributions  ...  so  long  as  Mr.  Parris  continues  in  the  work 
of  the  ministry  amongst  us,  and  all  productions  to  be  good  and 
merchantable.  And  if  it  please  God  to  bless  the  inhabitants, 
we  shall  be  willing  to  give  more ;  and  to  expect  that,  if  God 
shall  diminish  the  estates  of  the  people,  that  then  Mr.  Parris 
do  abate  of  his  salary  according  to  proportion."  1 

This  arrangement  was  far  from  satisfying  the  new  minister, 
for  it  only  gave  him  the  use  of  the  parsonage  and  its  pasture 
lands,  whereas  he  was  determined  to  get  a  fee  simple  of  both. 
Parish  Another  entry  in  the  parish  book  says  that  it  was 

in°Saiem  voted  to  make  over  to  him  that  real  estate,  but  this 
village  entry  is  not  duly  signed  by  the  clerk,  and  at  the 
time  there  were  parishioners  who  declared  that  it  must  have 
been  put  into  the  book  by  fraudulent  means.  Out  of  these 
circumstances  there  grew  a  quarrel  which  for  utterly  ruthless 
and  truculent  bitterness  had  scarcely  been  equalled  even  in 
the  envenomed  annals  of  New  England  parishes.  Many  peo- 
ple refused  to  pay  their  church-rates,  till  the  meeting-house 
began  to  suffer  for  want  of  repairs,  and  complaints  were 
made  to  the  county  court.  Matters  were  made  worse  by 
Parris' s  coarse  and  arrogant  manners,  and  his  excessive  sever- 
ity in  inflicting  church  discipline  for  trivial  offences.  By 
1 69 1  the  factions  into  which  the  village  was  divided  were 
ready  to  fly  at  each  other's  throats.  Christian  charity  and 
1  [C.  W.  Upham,  Salem  Witchcraft,  i.  291.] 


?  3s  tfi 


144  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

loving-kindness  were  well-nigh  forgotten.  It  was  a  spectacle 
such  as  Old  Nick  must  have  contemplated  with  grim  satis- 
faction. 

In  the  household  at   the   parsonage  were   two  coloured 

servants  whom  Parris  had  brought  with  him  from  the  West 

Indies.    The  man  was  known  as  John  Indian :  the 

Mr.  Parris's 

coloured  hag  Tituba,  who  passed  for  his  wife,  was  half- 
Indian  and  half-negro.  Their  intelligence  was  of 
a  low  grade,  but  it  sufficed  to  make  them  experts  in  palmistry, 
fortune-telling,  magic,  second-sight,  and  incantations.  Such 
lore  is  always  attractive  to  children,  and  in  the  winter  of 
1691-92  quite  a  little  circle  of  young  girls  got  into  the  habit 
of  meeting  at  the  parsonage  to  try  their  hands  at  the  Black 
Art.  Under  the  tuition  of  the  Indian  servants  they  soon 
learned  how  to  go  into  trances,  talk  gibberish,  and  behave 
like  pythonesses  of  the  most  approved  sort.  These 
"afflicted  girls  were  Parris's  daughter  Elizabeth,  aged  nine, 
and  his  niece  Abigail  Williams,  aged  eleven  ;  Mary 
Walcott  and  Elizabeth  Hubbard,  each  aged  seventeen  ;  Eliza- 
beth Booth  and  Susannah  Sheldon,  each  eighteen ;  Mary 
Warren  and  Sarah  Churchill,  each  aged  twenty.  Conspic- 
uous above  all  in  the  mischief  that  followed  were  two  girls 
of  wonderful  adroitness  and  hardihood,  Ann  Putnam,  aged 
twelve,  daughter  of  Sergeant  Thomas  Putnam,  and  Mercy 
Lewis,  aged  seventeen,  a  servant  in  his  family.  This  Thomas 
Putnam,  who  had  taken  part  in  the  great  Narragansett  fight, 
was  parish  clerk  and  belonged  to  an  aristocratic  family.  One 
of  his  nephews  was  Israel  Putnam,  of  Revolutionary  fame. 
Mistress  Ann  Putnam,  the  sergeant's  wife,  was  a  beautiful 
and  well-educated  woman  of  thirty,  but  so  passionate  and 
high-strung  that   in  her  best    moments   she  was 

Mistress  °  °# 

Ann  scarcely  quite  sane.     She  was  deeply  engaged  in 

Putnam  ,  ./.    ^  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  "    . 

the  village  quarrels ;  she  also  played  an  impor- 
tant part  in  supporting  her  daughter  Ann  and  her  servant 
Mercy  Lewis  in  some  of  the  most  shocking  work  of  that 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE 


H5 


JUDGE    CORWIN    HOUSE,    SALEM    (THE   SO-CALLED    WITCH    HOUSE) 


year.  Beside  Mrs.  Putnam,  two  other  grown  women,  one 
Sarah  Vibber  and  a  certain  Goody  Pope,  appeared  among 
the  sufferers,  but  were  of  no  great  account.  The  minister 
withdrew  his  own  daughter  early  in  the  proceedings  and  sent 
her  to  stay  with  some  friends  in  Salem  town.  The  chief 
managers  of  the  witchcraft  business,  then,  were  two  barba- 
rous Indians  steeped  to  the  marrow  in  demonolatry,  the 
half-crazed  and  vindictive  Mrs.  Putnam,  and  nine  girls  be- 
tween the  ages  of  eleven  and  twenty. 

These  girls  came  to  be  known  as  the  "Afflicted  Chil- 
dren." Their  proceedings  began  at  the  parsonage  about 
Christmas  time,  1691.  They  would  get  down  on  all  fours, 
crawl  under  chairs  and  tables,  go  off  into  fits,  and         .    . 

°  Beginnings 

speak  an  unintelligible  jargon.     All  this  may  have    of  the 

been  begun  in  sport.     It  would  doubtless  tickle 

them  to  find  how  well  they  could  imitate  Indian  medicine, 


146      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

and  the  temptation  to  show  off  their  accomplishments  would 
be  too  great  to  be  resisted.  Then  if  they  found  their  elders 
taking  the  affair  too  seriously,  if  they  suddenly  saw  them- 
selves in  danger  of  getting  whipped  for  meddling  with  such 
uncanny  matters,  what  could  be  more  natural  than  for  them 
to  seek  an  avenue  of  escape  by  declaring  that  they  were 
bewitched  and  could  not  help  doing  as  they  did  ?  As  to 
these  first  steps  the  records  leave  us  in  the  dark,  but  some- 
what such,  I  suspect,  they  must  have  been.  The  next  thing 
would  be  to  ask  them  who  bewitched  them  ;  and  here  the 
road  to  mischief  was  thrown  open  by  Mr.  Parris  taking  the 
affair  into  his  own  hands  with  a  great  flourish  of  trumpets, 
and  making  it  as  public  as  possible.  Such  was  this  man's 
way,  as  different  as  possible  from  Cotton  Mather's.  Physi- 
cians and  clergymen,  who  came  from  all  quarters  to  see 
Physicians  tne  S^s>  agreed  that  they  must  be  suffering  from 
and  clergy-    witchcraft.     When  commanded  to  point  out  their 

men  called  x 

in  tormentors,  they  first  named  the  Indian  hag  Tituba, 

and  then  Sarah  Good  and  Sarah  Osburn,  two  forlorn  old 
women  of  the  village,  who  were  not  held  in  high  esteem. 
On  the  last  day  of  February,  1692,  these  three  were  arrested, 
and  the  examinations  began  next  day.  The  chief  accusations 
against  Sarah  Good  were  that  after  she  had  spoken  angrily 
to  some  neighbours  their  cattle  sickened  and  died ;  that  she 
The  trial  of  tnrew  Mary  Walcott  and  other  children  into  con- 
Sarah  Good  vulsions  ;  and  that  she  tried  to  persuade  Ann  Put- 
nam to  sign  her  name  in  a  book.  It  was  supposed  that  such 
signatures  were  equivalent  to  a  quitclaim  deed  surrendering 
the  signer's  soul  to  the  Devil ;  and  his  agents,  the  witches, 
were  supposed  to  go  about  with  that  infernal  autograph 
book  soliciting  signatures.  Similar  charges  were  brought 
against  the  other  prisoners.  In  their  presence  the  afflicted 
children  raved  and  screamed.  At  the  indignant  denials  of 
the  two  old  white  women  the  violence  of  these  paroxysms 
became  frightful,  but  when  Tituba  confessed  that  she  was 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM   VILLAGE  147 

an  adept  in  witchcraft  and  had  enchanted  the  girls,  their 
symptoms  vanished  and  perfect  calm  ensued.  As  the  result 
of  the  examination  the  three  prisoners  were  sent  to  the  jail 
in  Boston  to  await  their  trial.1 

The  country  was  now  getting  alarmed,  and  the  girls  began 


f^c?£&ixy.flj?y>Scl--t{-  -cvrilL  tnJ+C  uri,f£  <2%^ry 


*Hn,L 


/■' 


&*.    ,(/ Jf f(rV&JS?r-^7ll-      _  ^W^YS^4?^ 


FACSIMILIE  OF  LETTER  OF  ROBERT  CALEF 

to  feel  their  power.  Their  next  blow  was  aimed  at  victims 
of  far  higher  sort.  The  wretched  Tituba  knew  human  nature 
well  enough  to  consult  her  own  safety  by  acting  as  king's  evi- 
dence,2 and  in  her  examination  she  testified  that  four  women 

1  [For  the  details  of  these  examinations,  see  W.  E.  Woodward, 
Records  of  Salem  Witchcraft,  Roxbury,  Mass.,  1864,  i.  1-49;  Upham, 
ii.  4-32;  Nevins,  Witchcraft  in  Salem  Village,  pp.  57-69.] 

2  ["  The  account  she  since  gives  of  it  is  that  her  master  did  beat 
her,  and  otherways  abuse  her,  to  make  her  confess  and  accuse  (such 


148  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

of  the  village  tormented  the  girls  ;  two  of  them  were  Good 
and  Osburn,  but  the  faces  of  the  other  two  she  said  she  could 
not  see.  After  Tituba  had  gone  to  prison,  the  girls  were 
"urged  to  give  up  the  names  of  these  other  two  tormentors. 
At  first  they  refused,  but  shortly  it  began  to  be  whispered 
in  bated  breath  that  some  of  the  most  respected  and  godly 
persons  in  the  village  were  leagued  with  Satan  in  this  hor- 
rible conspiracy.    About  the  middle  of  March  the 

The  accusa-  x  J% 

tion  of  Mar-   whole  community  was  thunderstruck  by  the  arrest 

tH'i  Corcv 

and  Re-  of  Martha  Corey  and  Rebecca  Nurse.  Of  these  two 
ladies  the  former  was  about  sixty  years  of  age,  the 
latter  more  than  seventy.  As  they  were  addressed  not  as 
"Mrs.,"  but  as  "  Goodwife,"  their  position  was  not  exactly 
aristocratic.  It  was  nevertheless  most  respectable.  They 
were  thoroughly  well-bred  and  well-educated  ladies,  full  of 
sweet  courtesy  and  simple-hearted  kindliness,  like  the  best 
of  farmers'  wives  in  New  England  villages  of  to-day.  Mar- 
tha Corey  was  third  wife  of  Giles  Corey,  a  farmer  eighty 
years  old,  a  man  of  herculean  stature  and  strength,  proud, 
self-willed,  and  contentious,  but  frank  and  noble,  with  a  rash, 
unruly  tongue.  He  had  been  in  many  a  quarrel,  and  had  made 
enemies.     His  wife,  so  far  as  we  know,  had  not. 

Character  .  ... 

of  Martha  She  was  a  woman  of  deep  and  sincere  piety,  with  as 
clear  and  sound  a  head  as  could  be  found  anywhere 
between  Cape  Cod  and  Cape  Ann.  She  disbelieved  in  witch- 
craft, was  inclined  to  regard  it  as  a  mere  delusion,  and  had 
no  sympathy  with  the  excitement  which  was  beginning  to 
turn  the  village  topsy-turvy.  She  did  not  flock  with  the  mul- 
titude to  see  the  accusing  girls,  but  she  reproved  her  more 
credulous  husband  for  giving  heed  to  such  tomfoolery,  and 
he,  with  that  uncurbed  tongue  of  his,  was  heard  to  utter 

as  he  called)  her  sister-witches :  and  that  whatsoever  she  said  by 
way  of  confessing,  or  accusing  others,  was  the  effect  of  such  usage." 
Robert  Calef,  More  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,  Salem  reprint, 
1823,  p.  189.] 


150  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

indiscreet  jests  about  his  good  wife's  scepticism.  It  was 
probably  this  that  caused  her  to  be  selected  as  a  victim. 
Sceptics  must  be  made  to  feel  the  danger  of  impugning 
the  authority  of  the  accusers  and  the  truth  of  their  tales. 
Accordingly  Martha  Corey,  accused  by  little  Ann  Putnam, 
was  soon  in  jail  awaiting  trial. 

The  next  was  Rebecca  Nurse.  She  was  one  of  three  sis- 
ters, daughters  of  William  Towne  of  Yarmouth,  in  England. 
Rebecca  Her  tw0  sisters>  wno  were  arrested  soon  after  her, 
Nurse  were  Mary  Easty  and   Sarah  Cloyse.    With  their 

husbands  they  were  all  persons  held  in  highest  esteem,  but 
an  ancient  village  feud  had  left  a  grudge  against  them  in 
some  revengeful  bosoms.  Half  a  century  before  there  had 
been  a  fierce  dispute  between  parties  from  Salem  and  from 
Topsfield  who  had  settled  in  the  border  region  between  the 
two  townships.  The  dispute  related  to  the  possession  of  cer- 
tain lots  of  land ;  it  had  grown  more  and  more  complicated, 
a  village  an<^  ^  nac^  engendered  hard  feelings  between  the 
feud  Putnams  on  one  side  and  the  Eastys  and  Townes 

on  the  other.  Besides  this,  Rebecca  Nurse  and  her  husband 
had  become  obnoxious  to  the  Putnams  and  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Parris  from  reasons  connected  with  the  church  dispute. 
There  was  evidently  a  method  in  the  madness  of  the  accus- 
ing girls.  Rebecca  Nurse  was  arrested  two  days  after  the 
committal  of  Martha  Corey.  The  appearance  of  this  vener- 
able and  venerated  lady  before  the  magistrates  caused  most 
profound  sensation.  Her  numerous  children  and  grand- 
children stood  high  in  public  esteem,  her  husband  was  one 
of  the  most  honoured  persons  in  the  community,  herself  a 
model  of  every  virtue.  As  she  stood  there,  delicate  and 
fragile  in  figure,  with  those  honest  eyes  that  looked  one  full 
The  ex-  m  *ne  face>  that  soft  gray  hair  and  dainty  white 
amination      muslin  kerchief,  one  marvels  what  fiend  can  have 

of  Rebecca  ' 

Nurse  possessed    those    young   girls    that   they    did   not 

shamefastly  hold  their  peace.     In  the  intervals  of  question 


A    BRIEF    and  TRUE 

NARRATIVE 

Of  fome  Remarkable  Parages  Relating  to  itmdry  Pcrfoas 
Afflided  by 

Witchcraft, 

A  T 

SALEM  VILLAGE 

* 

Which  happened  from  the  Nineteenth    of  March*  to  the 
Fifth  of  Jprik  1691. 


Gofle&ed  "by     Deed/it  L**fen. 


Tkifton,  Printed  hi  Benjamin  Harris  and  are  to  he  Sold  at  his 
Shfc  0  v  tr-agm$  tbi    Old-Meeting-Houie.     1 69a. 


TITLE    OF   LAMSOX'S    "A    BRIEF    AND    TRUE    NARRATIVE 


152  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

and  answer  they  went  into  fits  as  usual.  When  the  magis- 
trate Hathorne  became  visibly  affected  by  the  lady's  clear 
and  straightforward  answers,  the  relentless  Mrs.  Putnam 
broke  out  with  a  violence  dreadful  to  behold :  "  Did  you  not 
bring  the  black  man  with  you  ?  Did  you  not  bid  me  tempt 
God  and  die  ?  How  often  have  you  eaten  and  drunk  your 
own  damnation?"  At  this  outburst,  like  the  horrible  snarl 
of  a  lioness,  the  poor  old  lady  raised  her  hands  toward  hea- 
ven and  cried,  "O  Lord,  help  me!"  Whereupon  all  the 
afflicted  girls  "were  grievously  vexed."  Hathorne  thought 
that  their  spasms  were  caused  by  a  mysterious  influence 
emanating  from  Goodwife  Nurse's  lifted  hands,  and  so  his 
heart  was  hardened  toward  her.  Mary  Walcott  cried  out 
that  the  prisoner  was  biting  her,  and  then  showed  marks  of 
teeth  upon  her  wrist.  Thus  the  abominable  scene  went  on 
till  Rebecca  Nurse  was  remanded  to  jail  to  await  her  trial. 

That  was  on  a  Thursday  morning.  The  Rev.  Deodat 
Lawson,  a  fine  scholar  and  powerful  preacher,  had  arrived 
in  the  village  a  few  days  before,  and  it  was  known  that 
Deodat  ne  was  to  Preacn  the  afternoon  sermon  familiar 
Lawson  }n  those  days  as  the  Thursday  lecture.  He  had 
scarcely  arrived  when  two  or  three  of  the  girls  called  upon 
him  and  drove  him  nearly  out  of  his  wits  with  their  per- 
formances. Their  victory  over  him  was  complete,  and 
the  result  was  seen  in  that  Thursday  lecture,  which  was 
afterwards  printed,  and  is  a  literary  production  of  great  in- 
tensity and  power.  The  arrests  of  Martha  Corey  and  Re- 
becca Nurse  had  destroyed  all  confidence,  everybody  dis- 
trusted his  neighbour,  and  that  impassioned  sermon  goaded 
the  whole  community  to  madness.  If  the  Devil  could  use 
such  "  gospel  women  "  for  his  instruments,  what 

The  spread  fe      r 

of  the  safety  was  there  for  anybody  ?     Arrests  went  on 

with  increasing  rapidity  during  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer, until  at  least  126  persons,  of  whom  we  know  the  names 
and  something  of  the  family  history,  were  lodged  in  jail ; 


WITCHCRAFT   IN    SALEM    VILLAGE 


153 


and  these  names  do  not  exhaust  the  number.     Among  them 
—  to  mention  only  such  as  were  executed  —  we  may  note 
that  John  Procter  and  the  venerable  George  Jacobs  had  each 
had  one  of  the  accusing  girls   in  his  family  as  a  domestic 
servant,  and  in   both  cases   personal   malice  was  visibly  at 
work.     In  the  case  of  George  Jacobs  it  may  also 
be  observed  that  his  own  granddaughter,  to  save   personal 
her  own  life,  confessed  herself  a  witch,  and  testi- 
fied against  him  ;  afterward  she  confessed  this  horrible  wick- 
edness.    Sarah    Wildes,    Elizabeth   How,   and   Mary   Easty 


THE   JACOBS    HOUSE,    SALEM 

were  connected  with  the  Topsfield  affair  already  mentioned. 
Some,  such  as  Susannah  *Martin,  seem  to  have  owed  their 
fate  to  mere  superstition  of  the  lowest  sort.  On  a  rainy  day 
she  walked  over  a  good  bit  of  country  road  without  getting 
her  hose  or  skirts  muddy,  and  it  was  sagely  concluded  that 
such  neatness  could  only  have  been  attained  through  the  aid 


154  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

of  the  Devil.  She  was  mother  of  the  Mabel  Martin  about 
whom  Whittier  wrote  his  beautiful  poem,  "The  Witch's 
Daughter."  John  Willard  incurred  his  doom  for  having  said 
that  it  was  the  accusing  girls  who  were  the  real  witches 
worthy  of  the  gallows,  and  John  Procter  in  a  similar  spirit 
had  said  that  by  the  judicious  application  of  a  cudgel  he 
could  effect  a  prompt  and  thorough  cure  for  all  the  little 
hussies.  People  who  ventured  such  remarks  took  their  lives 
in  their  hands. 

The  boldest  and  most  remarkable  of  all  these  arrests  was 
that  of  the  Rev.  George  Burroughs,  and  it  was  one  of  the 
cases  in  which  malice  was  most  clearly  concerned.  This 
gentleman  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1670,  and 
had  been  pastor  over  the  church  in  Salem  Village  from  1680 
to   1682.     He  had  left   there  because  of  church 

The  Rev. 

George         feuds,  in  which  he  had  the  misfortune  to  belong  to 

Burroughs        ^     ^^    hostile     tQ    Mrg      AnR    putnam    ancJ    fter 

friends.     He  was  afterwards  settled  over  a  church  in  Wells, 
Maine,  and  was  liv- 
ing there  quietly  in 
1692,    when    about 
the  first  of  May  he 

was  arrested  and  taken  to  Salem  to  answer  a  charge  of 
witchcraft.  His  physical  strength  was  alleged  against  him. 
Though  small  in  frame  he  could  carry  a  barrel  of  cider  and 
hold  out  a  heavy  musket  at  arm's  length,  which  without  in- 
fernal aid  was  not  likely.  On  accusations  brought  by  the 
afflicted  girls  he  was  thrown  into  prison.1 

All  the  events  thus  far  recounted  happened  under  the  pro- 
visional government  of  Massachusetts  that  followed  the  over- 
throw of  Andros.     Now  in  the  middle  of  May  the 
court  first  royal  governor,  Sir  William  Phips,  arrived  in 

erected. 

Boston  with  the  new  charter.     Military  duties  soon 
called  him  far  down  East,  and  he  did  not  return  till  October. 
1  [Cf.  Nevins,  Witchcraft  in  Salem  Village,  pp.  131  ff.] 


2^*jfe^rfj6j?>y?s 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE 


155 


tia/Mun 


Before  his  departure  he  appointed  a  special  court  of  Oyer 
and  Terminer  to  try  the  witchcraft  cases.  William  Stough- 
ton  was  presiding  justice,  and  among  his  colleagues  it  may 
suffice  to  mention  John  Hathorne  for  his  connection  with 
one  of  the  most  illustrious  names  in  modern  literature,  and 


156  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

Samuel  Sewall,  in  whose  voluminous  diary  we  have  such  a 
wonderful  picture  of  that  old  Puritan  society. 

Early  in  the  proceedings  this  court  requested  the  opinion 
of  the  ministers  in  Boston  and  neighbouring  towns  concern- 
ing the  subject  then  uppermost  in  all  minds.  The  opinion, 
written  by  Cotton  Mather,  one  of  the  youngest  of  the  min- 
isters, and  subscribed  by  all  the  most  eminent,  was  calm  and 
judicial.     It  ran  as  follows  :  — 

Boston,  June  15,  1692. 

1.  "  The  afflicted  state  of  our  poor  neighbours  that  are 

now  suffering  by  molestations  from   the  Invisible 

The  advice 

of  the  World  we  apprehend  so  deplorable,  that  we  think 

their  condition  calls  for  the  utmost  help  of  all  per- 
sons in  their  several  capacities. 

2.  "  We  cannot  but  with  all  thankfulness  acknowledge  the 
success  which  the  merciful  God  has  given  unto  the  sedulous 
and  assiduous  endeavours  of  our  honourable  rulers  to  detect 
the  abominable  witchcrafts  which  have  been  committed  in 
the  country ;  humbly  praying  that  the  discovery  of  these 
mysterious  and  mischievous  wickednesses  may  be  perfected. 

3.  "We  judge  that,  in  the  prosecution  of  these  and  all 
such  witchcrafts  there  is  need  of  a  very  critical  and  exquisite 
caution,  lest  by  too  much  credulity  for  things  received  only 
upon  the  devil's  authority,  there  be  a  door  opened  for  a  long 
train  of  miserable  consequences,  and  Satan  get  an  advantage 
over  us ;  for  we  should  not  be  ignorant  of  his  devices. 

4.  "  As  in  complaints  upon  witchcraft  there  may  be  matters 
of  inquiry  which  do  not  amount  unto  matters  of  presump- 
tion, and  there  may  be  matters  of  presumption  which  yet 
may  not  be  matters  of  conviction,  so  it  is  necessary  that  all 
proceedings  thereabout  be  managed  with  an  exceeding  ten- 
derness toward  those  that  may  be  complained  of,  especially 
if  they  have  been  persons  formerly  of  an  unblemished  repu- 
tation. 

5.  "  When  the  first  inquiry  is  made  into  the  circumstances 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  157 

of  such  as  may  lie  under  the  just  suspicion  of  witchcrafts,  we 
could  wish  that  there  may  be  admitted  as  little  as  possible 
of  such  noise,  company  and  openness  as  may  too  hastily  ex- 
pose them  that  are  examined,  and  that  there  may  be  nothing 
used  as  a  test  for  the  trial  of  the  suspected,  the  lawfulness 
whereof  may  be  doubted  by  the  people  of  God,  but  that  the 
directions  given  by  such  judicious  writers  as  Perkins  and 
Barnard  may  be  observed. 

6.  "  Presumptions  whereupon  persons  may  be  committed, 
and  much  more,  convictions  whereupon  persons  may  be  con- 
demned as  guilty  of  witchcrafts,  ought  certainly  to  be  more 
considerable  than  barely  the  accused  persons  being  repre- 
sented by  a  spectre  unto  the  afflicted,  inasmuch  as  it  is  an 
undoubted  and  notorious  thing,  that  a  demon  may  by  God's 
permission  appear,  even  to  ill  purposes,  in  the  shape  of  an 
innocent,  yea,  and  a  virtuous  man.  Nor  can  we  esteem 
alterations  made  in  the  sufferers,  by  a  look  or  touch  of  the 
accused,  to  be  an  infallible  evidence  of  guilt,  but  frequently 
liable  to  be  abused  by  the  devil's  legerdemains. 

7.  "  We  know  not  whether  some  remarkable  affronts  given 
the  devils,  by  our  disbelieving  these  testimonies  whose  whole 
force  and  strength  is  from  them  alone,  may  not  put  a  period 
unto  the  progress  of  the  dreadful  calamity  begun  upon  us, 
in  the  accusation  of  so  many  persons,  whereof  some,  we 
hope,  are  yet  clear  from  the  great  transgression  laid  to  their 
charge. 

8.  "  Nevertheless,  we  cannot  but  humbly  recommend  unto 
the  government,  the  speedy  and  vigorous  prosecutions  of  such 
as  have  rendered  themselves  obnoxious,  according  to  the  direc- 
tions given  in  the  laws  of  God  and  the  wholesome  statutes 
of  the  English  nation  for  the  detection  of  witchcrafts." 

Had  these  recommendations  been  followed,  not  a  single 
capital  conviction  could  have  been  secured.  Note  the  warn- 
ing to  the  judges  against  relying  upon  "  spectral  evidence  " 
or  upon  the  physical  effects  apparently  wrought  upon  the 


158  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

accusers  by  the  presence  of  the  accused  persons,  since  evi- 
dence of  that  sort  is  "  frequently  liable  to  be  abused  by  the 
devil's  legerdemains."  Now  every  one  of  the  victims  was 
convicted  and  hung  upon  the  strength  of  "  spectral  evidence  " 
or  the  tantrums  of  the  afflicted  children,  or  both  combined. 
Spectral  And  wna-t,  Pray,  was  "spectral  evidence"?  Lit- 
evidence  tje  Ann  putnam's  testimony  against  Mr.  Burroughs 
was  an  instance  of  it.  She  said  that  one  evening  the  appa- 
rition of  a  minister  came  to  her  and  asked  her  to  write  her 
name  in  the  devil's  book  ;  then  came  the  forms  of  two  women 
in  winding  sheets,  and  looked  angrily  upon  the  minister  and 
scolded  him  till  he  was  fain  to  vanish  away ;  then  the  women 
told  little  Ann  that  they  were  the  ghosts  of  Mr.  Burroughs' s 
first  and  second  wives  whom  he  had  murdered,  and  one  of 
them  showed  the  very  place  under  the  left  arm  where  he 
had  stabbed  her.  At  another  time  three  other  persons  who 
had  recently  died  appeared  to  Ann  and  accused  Mr.  Bur- 
roughs of  murdering  them,  and  commanded  her  to  tell  these 
things  to  the  magistrates  before  Mr.  Burroughs's  face.  On 
such  evidence  was  a  gentleman  and  scholar  condemned  to 
death.1  So  when  Mercy  Lewis  was  found  sobbing  and  scream- 
ing, "  Dear  Lord,  receive  my  soul,"  "  O  Lord,  let  them  not 
kill  me  quite,"  the  same  Ann  Putnam  and  Abigail  Williams 
were  sent  for  to  see  what  was  the  matter,  and  both  declared 
that  they  saw  the  apparitions  of  Mary  Easty  and  John  Wil- 
lard  pinching  and  biting  and  strangling  poor  Mercy  Lewis. 
On  such  evidence  Mary  Easty  and  John  Willard  were  sent 
to  the  gallows.  With  such  ghost  stories  did  Mary  Wal- 
cott  and  Elizabeth  Hubbard  cOnvict  Rebecca  Nurse  of  three 
hideous  murders,  naming  persons  who  had  died  within  a  few 
years.  When  the  astounded  old  lady  called  upon  God  to 
witness  her  innocence,  the  girls  all  went  into  fits.  Never- 
theless it  was  hard  to  obtain  a  verdict  against  her. 

1  [See  Cotton  Mather's  account  of  Burroughs's  case,  Wonders  of  the 
Invisible  World,  pp.  1 20  ff .] 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE 


159 


BE' 

THE    NOURSE    HOUSE,   SALEM 


An  ancestor  of  mine  (my  great-grandfather's  great-great- 
grandfather), Dr.  John  Fisk,  one  of  the  most  eminent  physi- 
cians in  the  colony,  then  lived  in  Wenham,  within  four  miles 
of  Mr.  Parris's  meeting-house.  The  family  tradition  has  it 
that  he  was  sceptical  about  witchcraft.  His  uncle,  Thomas 
Fisk,  was  a  firm  believer  in  witchcraft,  but  disapproved  of 
spectral  evidence.     He  was  foreman  of  the  jury 

.  .  The  jury 

in  the  trial  of  Rebecca  Nurse,  and  the  verdict  was  acquit  Ke- 
Not  Guilty,  whereat  the  girls  began  screaming  and 
rolling  about  as  if  all  Bedlam  were  let  loose.  The  judges 
then  told  the  jury  that  they  must  have  overlooked  one  fact, 
—  that  in  an  unguarded  moment  the  prisoner  had  really  con- 
fessed her  guilt !  It  seems  that  one  of  the  prisoners,  Deliv- 
erance Hobbs,  had  gone  clean  daft  with  fright,  confessed 
herself  a  witch,  and  joined  the  accusing  girls  as  a  sort  of 
king's  evidence.    When  she  was  brought  in  to  testify  against 


160  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

Rebecca  Nurse,  the  old  lady  exclaimed  :  "  What !  do  you 

bring  her?    She  is  one  of  us."    Of  course  she  meant  one  of 

us  prisoners,  but  the  atrabilious  chief  justice  was 

The  court 

sends  them  sure  she  meant  one  of  us  witches,  and  he  insisted 
that  the  jury  should  go  out  again.  They  were  not 
convinced,  but  presently  returning  to  the  court-room  asked 
the  accused  to  explain  what  she  meant.  She  made  no  reply, 
and  the  jury  at  length  reluctantly  accepted  this  silence  as  a 
confession  of  guilt.  Afterwards  she  explained  that,  being 
somewhat  "  hard  of  hearing  and  full  of  grief,"  she  did  not 
realize  what  was  asked  of  her.  She  was  sentenced  none  the 
less,  and  after  being  excommunicated  from  the  church  with 
elaborate  ceremony  was  taken  to  the  gallows.  Thomas  Fisk, 
the  juryman  who  held  out  longest,  made  a  written  statement 
afterward  in  which  he  declared  that  what  finally  overcame 
him  was  her  sudden  silence  at  the  critical  moment.  The 
whole  incident  is  a  pretty  clear  case  of  judges  browbeating 
jury.1 

The  case  of  Mary  Easty,  sister  of  Rebecca  Nurse,  still 
further  illustrates  the  fierce  persistency  of  the  accusing  girls 
The  case  of  and  t^ie  completeness  of  the  influence  which  they 
Mary  Easty  exercised  over  a  large  portion  of  the  community. 
Mary  Easty  had  been  arrested  soon  after  her  sister,  but  had 
borne  herself  so  well  upon  examination  that  after  two  months' 
imprisonment  she  was  set  free  on  May  18.  Evidently,  the 
accusing  girls  made  up  their  minds  that  it  would  not  do  to 
allow  this  sort  of  thing.  One  day  elapsed,  during  which  they 
had  plenty  of  time  to  interchange  messages  with  one  another 
and  with  Mrs.  Putnam.  On  the  20th,  at  about  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  Mercy  Lewis,  being  at  John  Putnam's  house, 
was  suddenly  seized  with  the  paroxysms  above  mentioned. 
Let  us  observe  the  rapidity  with  which  the  desired  effects 
were  produced.     A  neighbour   named   Samuel  Abbey  was 

1  [See  Calef,  New  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,  pp.  209-211; 
Nevins,  Witchcraft  in  Salem  Village,  pp.  125-130.] 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  161 

sent  in  all  haste  to  Thomas  Putnam's  house,  to  bring  little 
Ann  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  The  distance  was  about 
a  mile.  He  found  Abigail  Williams  with  Ann,  and  brought 
the  two  girls  back  with  him.  On  the  way,  they  both  ex- 
claimed that  they  saw  the  apparition  of  Goody  Easty  afflict- 
ing Mercy  Lewis.  When  they  arrived  upon  the  scene,  they 
found  Mercy  in  convulsions,  apparently  choked  and  strangled, 


PART    OF    GALLOWS'    HILL,    SALEM 


and  catching  for  each  breath  as  if  it  were  the  last.  The  two 
girls  exclaimed,  "  There  are  Goody  Easty  and  John  Willard 
and  Mary  Whittredge  afflicting  poor  Mercy  Lewis  !  "  After 
this  had  continued  for  some  time,  a  messenger  was  sent  up 
to  Captain  Jonathan  Walcott's  to  get  his  daughter  Mary. 
The  distance  was  a  mile  and  a  half.  She  arrived  about  one 
o'clock,  and  immediately  cried  out  that  she  saw  the  spectre 
of  Mary  Easty  standing  over  the  patient  and  tightening  a 
chain  about  her  neck.  Presently  a  messenger  was  sent  to 
the  house  of  Dr.  Griggs,  three  and  a  half  miles  distant,  to 
get  Elizabeth  Hubbard,  who  upon  her  arrival  immediately 


162      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

saw  Goody  Easty,  as  she  said,  torturing  Mercy  in  a  most 
dreadful  manner.  Occasionally  Mercy  would  grow  tired,  but 
as  her  convulsions  ceased,  Elizabeth  Hubbard  would  be  seized 
with  fits  and  would  ask  the  spectre  why  she  had  brought  with 
her  a  coffin  and  winding-sheet.  By  eight  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing the  room  was  full  of  neighbours,  who  were  so  impressed 
by  the  acting  of  the  girl  that  some  of  them  were  afterward 
ready  to  testify  that  they  saw  the  winding-sheet,  the  coffin, 
and  the  devil's  autograph  book,  and  heard  words  uttered  by 
the  spectre  as  well  as  by  the  girls.  About  eight  o'clock  two 
messengers  went  to  Salem  town  to  apply  to  Justice  Hathorne 
for  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  Mary  Easty.  The  distance 
Mary  Easty  was  seven  miles.  Hathorne  at  once  issued  the  war- 
h^rVome  rant>  which  bears  the  date,  May  20.  The  constable 
at  midnight  went  with  it  to  the  house  of  Isaac  Easty,  nine  miles 
distant,  which  he  seems  to  have  reached  about  midnight.  For 
two  days  poor  Mary  had  enjoyed  her  freedom,  the  comforts 
of  home,  and  the  pleasure  of  being  once  more  with  her  hus- 
band and  children.  Now  at  midnight  she  was  aroused  from 
sleep,  carried  off  to  prison,  and  put  in  irons,  after  which  the 
constable  returned  seven  miles  to  John  Putnam's  house  to 
witness  the  performances  of  Mercy  Lewis  until  dawn.  Mercy 
kept  screaming,  "  What !  Have  you  brought  me  the  wind- 
ing-sheet, Goodwife  Easty  ?  Well,  I  had  rather  go  into  the 
winding-sheet  than  set  my  hand  to  the  book."  About  day- 
break she  fell  asleep,  but  only  for  a  short  time  ;  her  parox- 
ysms were  not  finished  until  Mary  Easty  had  been  examined 
before  Hathorne  and  finally  committed  to  prison  early  the 
next  morning.  Nothing  could  show  more  forcibly  than  the 
events  of  that  20th  of  May  the  extent  to  which  the  com- 
munity was  dominated  by  the  accusing  girls.  There  is  no 
hint  that  among  all  the  bystanders  who  watched  Mercy  Lewis 
in  the  course  of  that  day  and  night  there  was  one  who  ven- 
tured to  express  any  doubt  as  to  the  reality  of  the  pretended 
apparitions.      Indeed,  the  slightest  expression  of  any  such 


I       -^  >-->£-     V^&iS  ess.       C*^*. 


ST      j     ***  i     1        %  i      »V»i 

^      1  ■  ■'■■-ii    ■*      ^.^  •   i-i-i        j         i  I 


1 64  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

doubt  would  have  been  fraught  with  peril  to  the  doubter,  and 
it  is  most  likely  that  none  but  willing  believers  made  bold  to 
Doubt  attend  the  scene.    It  only  need  be  added  that  after 

perilous  Mary  Easty  was  finally  committed  for  trial  and 
the  news  of  it  reached  John  Putnam's  house,  the  wretched 
Mercy  Lewis  at  once  recovered,  thus  sealing  the  belief  in 
the  truth  of  her  story.  From  that  moment  it  was  a  fore- 
gone conclusion  that  Goody  Easty  must  die,  slain  by  the 
same  degrading  methods  which  had  achieved  the  destruction 
of  her  sister. 

Further  details  of  the  trials  seem  unnecessary ;  it  was  but 
the  same  old  story  repeated.  In  all,  nineteen  persons  were 
hanged,  one  died  of  ill-treatment  in  prison,  and  the  old 
wretch  Tituba  was  sold  into  slavery  to  pay  for  her  board  in 
prison.  One  often  hears  people  allude  to  the  burning  of 
witches  in  New  England ;  no  persons  were  ever  burned 
there  by  white  people  for  witchcraft.  One  cruel  punish- 
ment, however,  was  inflicted  on  this  occasion  for  the  only 
time  in  American  history.  In  old  .English  law,  in  cases 
Peine  forte  working  corruption  of  blood,  the  refusal  to  plead 
et  dure  either  guilty  or  not  guilty  to  an  indictment  would 
prevent  confiscation  of  estates.  Hence  a  prisoner  would 
sometimes  refuse  to  plead,  and  in  order  to  overcome  his 
obstinacy  the  law  would  stretch  him  on  the  floor  and  pile 
weights  upon  his  chest  until  the  breath  was  gradually 
squeezed  from  his  body.  This  was  appropriately  called 
the  peine  forte  ct  dure.  Now  Giles  Corey  was  arrested  for 
witchcraft  in  April.  His  wife,  who  had  been  in  jail  since 
March,  was  sentenced  to  death  on  September  10,  and  his 
own  trial  came  two  or  three  days  later.  The  knowledge 
that  thoughtless  words  of  his,  uttered  in  jest,  had  been  used 
against  his  wife,  had  broken  his  heart,  but  not  his  will  of  iron, 
This  man,  who  in  all  his  eighty  years  had  never  known  the 
meaning  of  fe'ar,  expected  nothing  but  death,  and  probably 
wished  for  nothing  better,  but  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  165 

leave  his  property  where  he  pleased,  and  baulk  his  enemies 
of  at  least  one  gratification.  So  he  stood  mute  before  the 
court  until  he  was  taken  out  and  pressed  to  death.  Nothing 
could  quell  that  indomitable  spirit.  Three  days  later,  on 
September  22,  his  good  wife  and  seven  companions  were 
taken  to  the  gallows.  One  of  the  most  busy  witch-hunters, 
ever  since  the  affair  began,  had  been  Rev.  Nicho-  The  Rev 
las  Noyes,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Salem  Mr.  Noyes 
town.  Such  meagre  pity  as  his  soul  found  room  for  was 
expressed  when  he  pointed  to  the  swinging  bodies  and  ex- 
claimed, "  What  a  sad  thing  it  is  to  see  eight  firebrands  of 
hell  hanging  there  !  " 1  Some  weeks  before,  this  truculent 
Mr.  Noyes  had  been  present  at  the  execution  of  Sarah  Good, 
and  just  before  she  was  turned  off  he  said  to  her,  "  You  are 
a  witch,  and  you  know  you  are  !  "  The  spirited  answer  of 
the  dying  woman  is  refreshing  to  read  :  "  You  are  a  liar!  I 
am  no  more  a  witch  than  you  are  a  wizard,  and  if  you  take 
away  my  life,  God  will  give  you  blood  to  drink  !  "  2 

In  strong  contrast  with  this  were  the  dying  words  of  that 
noble  Christian  woman,  Mary  Easty  :  — 

"  The  humble  petition  of  Mary  Easty  unto  his  Excellency, 
Sir  William  Phips,  and  to  the  Honoured  Judge  and 

™  •     •  •        t     1.  ^   ,  ,     Thepeti- 

rSencn  now  sitting  in  J  udicature  in  Salem,  and  tion  of 
the  Reverend  Ministers,  humbly  showeth,  that,  ary  as  y 
whereas  your  poor  and  humble  petitioner,  being  condemned 
to  die,  do  humbly  beg  of  you  to  take  it  in  your  judicious 
and  pious  consideration,  that  your  poor  and  humble  peti- 
tioner, knowing  my  own  innocency,  blessed  be  the  Lord  for 
it !  and  seeing  plainly  the  wiles  and  subtilty  of  my  accusers 
by  myself,  cannot  but  judge  charitably  of  others  that  are 
going  the  same  way  of  myself,  if  the  Lord  steps  not  might- 
ily in.  I  was  confined  a  whole  month  upon  the  same 
account  that  I  am  condemned  now  for,  and  then  cleared  by 
the  afflicted  persons,  as  some  of  Your  Honours  know.  And 
i  [Calef,  p.  221.]  2  rcalef,  p.  209.] 


166  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

in  two  days'  time  I  was  cried  out  upon  [by]  them,  and  have 
been  confined,  and  now  am  condemned  to  die.  The  Lord 
above  knows  my  innocency  then,  and  likewise  does  now,  as 
at  the  great  day  will  be  known  to  men  and  angels.  I  peti- 
tion not  to  Your  Honours  for  my  own  life,  for  I  know  I 
must  die,  and  my  appointed  time  is  set ;  but  the  Lord  he 
knows  it  is  that,  if  it  be  possible,  no  more  innocent  blood 
may  be  shed,  which  undoubtedly  cannot  be  avoided  in  the 
Her  warn-  way  and  course  you  go  in.  I  question  not  but 
ing  Your  Honors  do  to  the  utmost  of  your  powers  in 

the  discovery  and  detecting  of  witchcraft  and  witches,  and 
would  not  be  guilty  of  innocent  blood  for  the  world.  But, 
by  my  own  innocency,  I  know  you  are  in  the  wrong  way. 
The  Lord  in  his  infinite  mercy  direct  you  in  this  great  work, 
if  it  be  his  blessed  will  that  no  more  innocent  blood  be  shed ! 
I  would  humbly  beg  of  you,  that  Your  Honours  would  be 
pleased  to  examine  these  afflicted  persons  strictly,  and  keep 
them  apart  some  time,  and  likewise  to  try  some  of  these 
confessing  witches ;  I  being  confident  there  is  several  of 
them  has  belied  themselves  and  others,  as  will  appear,  if  not 
in  this  world,  I  am  sure  in  the  world  to  come,  whither  I  am 
now  agoing.  I  question  not  but  you  will  see  an  alteration 
of  these  things.  They  say  myself  and  others  having  made  a 
league  with  the  Devil,  we  cannot  confess.  I  know,  and  the 
Lord  knows,  as  will  [shortly]  appear,  they  belie  me,  and  so 
I  question  not  but  they  do  others.  The  Lord  above,  who  is 
the  Searcher  of  all  hearts,  knows,  as  I  shall  answer  it  at  the 
tribunal  seat,  that  I  know  not  the  least  thing  of  witchcraft  ; 
therefore  I  cannot,  I  dare  not,  belie  my  own  soul.  I  beg 
Your  Honours  not  to  deny  this  my  humble  petition  from  a 
poor,  dying,  innocent  person.  And  I  question  not  but  the 
Lord  will  give  a  blessing  to  your  endeavours."  * 

1  [Upham,  ii.  328,  329 ;  Calef,  pp.  219,  220.  There  are  slight  dif- 
ferences in  the  two  texts.  The  two  insertions  in  brackets  are  from 
Calef's  text.] 


A   Mode  ft  Enquiry 

Into  the  Nature    of 

Witchcraft, 


AND 

Mow  Perfons  Guilty  of  that  Crime 
may  be  Conv't&ed  :  And  the  moans 
ufed  for  their  Ditcovery  DifculTec> 
both  Negatively  and  Affirmatively \ 
according  to  S  C  R  IP  TV  R  E  and 
EX  ¥  ERIE  NC  B. 


By  Sfoljn  i)ale, 

Pa  (Tor  o:  the  Church  of  ChriJr  in  Bevsrlej^ 
Ann-)    D'*r:in'r       1697. 


When  tbty  f 4)  nntojciiy  §*tk  ttftte  thetn  that  have 
Famutar  Spirits  end  unto  Pf't^ards^thatpeep^S 
To  the  Larv  and  to  the  Teftjmony  ;  if  they  [peak 
not  according  to  this  word,  it  is  becattje  there  jj  no 
light  in  them,    Haiah    VIII.    1  9,  lO. 

That  which  1  jec  «#*'  teach  thou  rne^  Job    54*    %'*•* 

BOSTON  tn  N.  E 
Printed   by    S.  Grstn,    and   J.   A)lmi  foi 
Beniamin  Eliot  under  the  Town  Hnufe.  xvoz 


TITLE    OF    HALE'S    "A    MODEST    ENQUIRY" 


1 68  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

The  execution  of  Mary  Easty,  Martha  Corey,  and  their  six 
companions  was  the  last  scene  in  the  tragedy.  Further  trials 
were  held,  but  there  were  no  more  executions,  and  early  in 
,     ,  1693  all  the  prisoners  were   set   free.     As  to  the 

Sudden  . 

collapse  of     cause  of  this  sudden  collapse  in  the  frenzy  we  may 

the  trials  .  .  ,.  . 

say  that  it  came,  as  such  collapses  always  come, 
when  humanity  has  been  outraged  more  than  it  will  bear. 
Why  did  the  guillotine  stop  its  work  in  1794  just  after  the 
fall  of  Robespierre  ?  The  men  who  overthrew  him  were  not 
much  better  than  himself,  but  the  state  of  things  had  come 
to  be  unendurable.  Such  periods  of  furious  excitement  in- 
evitably lead  up  to  a  moment  of  reaction,  and  the  suddenness 
and  completeness  of  the  reaction  is  apt  to  be  proportionate 
to  the  intensity  and  ferocity  of  the  excitement.  The  reign 
of  terror  in  Salem  Village  was  due  to  a  temporary  destruc- 
tion of  confidence  ;  everybody  became  afraid  of  his  neigh- 
Reaction  bours,  and  there  is  nothing  so  pitiless  as  fear.  But 
intense the  many  l°ng  ages  of  social  discipline  based  upon 
strain  mutual  confidence,  without  which  human  society 

could  not  exist,  have  made  that  sentiment  so  strong  and 
tough  that  it  cannot  be  suppressed  for  more  than  a  short 
time.  The  feeling  with  which  people  endured  the  sight  of 
Rebecca  Nurse  and  George  Burroughs  and  Martha  Corey 
hanged  like  common  felons  was  a  feeling  of  tension  that 
must  soon  give  way.  The  accusing  girls  did  not  appreciate 
this  point ;  they  became  overweeningly  bold  and  aimed  too 
high.  Increase  Mather,  President  of  Harvard  College,  had 
expressed  his  disapproval  of  the  methods  of  the  court,  and  a 

member  of  his  family  was  accused.    Then  the  girls 

The  accus-  J 

ers  aim  too  cried  out  against  Rev.  Samuel  Willard,  pastor  of  the 
Old  South  Church  in  Boston,  a  man  of  as  much 
eminence  in  his  day  as  the  late  Phillips  Brooks.  They  even 
assailed  Lady  Phips,  the  governor's  wife,  who  condemned 
their  proceedings  and  expressed  sympathy  with  the  victims. 
In  these   instances   the  girls   struck   too  high.     The   same 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  169 

Stoughton  and  Hathorne,  who  could  take  for  granted  the 
guilt  of  Martha  Corey,  could  entertain  no  such  thoughts 
about  Mr.  Willard,  and  when  some  of  the  girls  mentioned 
his  name  they  were  sharply  rebuked  and  told  to  hold  their 

tongues.     Their  final  and  most  fa- 
.    Poo^A.    T^Ciljx^i .      tal  mistake  was  made  in  October, 

when  they  accused  Mrs.  Hale,  wife 
of  the  minister  in  Beverly,  a  lady  known  throughout  the 
colony  for  her  noble  Christian  character.  The  vile  accusa- 
tion opened  the  eyes  of  her  husband,  who  had  been  active 
in  the  pursuit  of  the  witches.  He  instantly  faced  about, 
began  to  oppose  the  whole  prosecution,  and  confessed  that 
he  had  been  deceived.  This  was  a  fatal  blow  to  the  witch- 
hunters,  and  the  effect  was  presently  enhanced  when  Accusers 
some  high-spirited  persons  in  Andover,  on  being  JJjflfJJJjt 
accused  of  witchcraft,  retorted  by  bringing  an  ac-  for  damages 
tion  for  defamation  of  character  with  heavy  damages.  This 
marked  the  end  of  the  panic,  and  from  that  time  people 
began  to  be  quick  in  throwing  off  the  whole  witchcraft 
delusion. 

Another  circumstance  is  worthy  of  notice  in  this  connection. 
About  three  weeks  after  the  execution  of  Martha  Corey  and 
her  companions  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  was 
assembled  at  Boston.  It  was  different  from  any  General 
Court  that  had  sat  before,  for  it  was  the  first  Court  elected 
under  the  new  charter.  Under  the  old  charter  none  but 
church  members  could  either  serve  as  representatives  or  vote 
for  representatives.1  Under  the  new  charter  such  restrictions 
were  abolished  and  a  property  qualification  was  sub-  The  Court 
stituted  for  them.    The  effect  was  not  only  greatly    °f0>'.erand 

J  &  J      Terminer 

to  widen  the  suffrage,  but  also  to  secularize  it.    One   abolished 
of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  legislature  was  to  abolish  the 

1  [This  was  modified  in  1664,  in  response  to  the  king's  command,  so 
as  to  extend  the  suffrage  to  all  respectable  citizens  of  orthodox  opin- 
ions.] 


170  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

special  court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  under  which  the  witch- 
craft trials  had  been  held,  and  to  establish  a  superior  court. 
When  the  new  court  met  in  January,  the  change  was  visible. 
The  grand  jury  began  by  throwing  out  more  than  half  of 
the  indictments.1  In  the  mean  time  a  tract  published  by  In- 
crease Mather,  entitled  "  Cases  of  Conscience,"  2  had  done 
Cotton  much    to    cast    discredit    upon   spectral  evidence. 

Mather  As  for  Cotton  Mather,  he  had  not  been  present 
at  any  of  the  witch  trials,  nor  do  we  know  of  any  comment 
which  he  made  upon  them  at  the  time,  except  that  Calef 
tell  us  that  at  the  execution  of  Mr.  Burroughs  young  Mather 
was  present  on  horseback,  having,  perhaps,  ridden  down 
from  Boston  for  the  occasion.  Calef  says  the  spectators 
were  so  impressed  with  Burroughs 's  innocence  of  demeanour 
that  Cotton  Mather  felt  it  necessary  to  tell  them  that  the 
devil  might  take  on  the  semblance  of  a  saint  or  an  angel ; 
and  that  thereupon,  the  people  being  appeased,  the  execu- 
tions went  on.  Now  Calef  has  so  often  been  convicted  of 
inaccuracy  that  his  statement  here  is  open  to  suspicion. 
The  argument  that  Satan  might  assume  the  appearance  of 
some  person  of  known  innocence  or  excellence  was  a  favour- 
ite one  with  Cotton  Mather  when  he  was  inveighing  against 
spectral  evidence.  As  applied  to  the  alleged  testimony  of 
the  two  deceased  wives  of  Mr.  Burroughs,  it  had  a  peculiarly 
Matherian  meaning ;  it  meant  that  instead  of  the  first  and 
second  Mrs.  Burroughs,  it  was  the  devil  who  was  talking  to 
little  Ann  Putnam,  so  that  therefore  the  unfortunate  minis- 
Expiana-  ter  was  condemned  upon  the  devil's  evidence.  As 
Mather's  ordinarily  understood,  in  the  sense  that  Mr.  Bur- 
speech  roughs  himself  was  an  impersonation  of  the  devil, 
the  remark  ascribed  by  Calef  to  Mather  does  not  fit  in  with 

I1  See  Sir  William  Phips's  report  to  the  home  government  of  his 
policy  in  regard  to  the  troubles,  Palfrey,  iv.  112,  113.] 

[2  This  occupies  pp.  220-291  of  the  London  reprint  of  the  Wonders 
vf  the  Invisible  World.'] 


Cafes  of  Conference 

Concerning  evil 

SPIRITS 


Perforating    Men, 
Witchcrafts,    infallible    Proofs  of 
Guilt  in  fuch  as  are  accufed 
with   that  Crime. 

All  Considered  according  'to  the  Scriptures, 
Biftory,  Experience,  and  the  Judgment 
of  many  Learned  m:n. 

By   Jncrcafe  ^Jatljcj,  PreGdent  of partem 

CcllcDgC    at    Camcrit»£C,  and    Teacher  of 
a  Church  at  BOSTON    in  New-England. 


Pi\>v.  Zl.    11.  —   That    thsu     might t8    Anfvocr    the 
vsrds   of  Truth,   to  them  that  fend  untt  thee* 


Etiicinnt  Dtmoncs,  ut  <juj?  u§* font,  fie  tamcny  qua  ft 
mt yC9nfp€tmda  hwtinibui  ptkibttnt*  LaBantius  Lib. 
ii.Infiit.  Cap.  15.  Diahlus  Cenfulitur,  cum  ijsmtdijs 
utimur  aiifuid  Coi'iofccndi/fu^  a  DisbtUfunt  iutroducia 
Ames.    Cm/.  Con}.  U  4.  Cap.      2?. 


BOSTON  Printed,    and   Sold  by    Benjamin 
Hants  at  the  Loadou 


Coftec-Houie.     1695. 

-—  1  — * 


TITLE    OF    INCREASE    MATHER'S    "CASES    OF    CONSCIENCE 


%%t  tfflfmtacrs  cf  tjjcjtntrfflble  tfftofa 


OBSERVATIONS 

As  well  Uifisrical  as  Theological  upon  the  NA 1  URE,  the 
NUMBER,  and  the  OPERATIONS  of  the 

DEVILS 

Accompan/d  with, 

I.  Some  Accounts  of  the  Grievous  Moleftations,  by  DE- 
MONS and  WITCHCRAFTS,  which  have  lately 
annoy  ?d  the  Countrey ;  and  che  Tiials  offbme  eminent  ;. 
Malefidors  Executed  upon  occafion  thereof:  with  fevcrai 
Remarkable  Curiofitics  therein  occurring. 

II.  Some  Couniils,  Directing  a  due  Improvement  of  the  ter- 
riole  things,  lately  done,  by  the  Unulual  &  Amazing 
Rangeof  EVIL  SPIRITS,  in  Our  Neighbourhood :  6c 
the  methods  to  prevent  the  Wrwg*  which  tiioie  Evil 
Angels  may  intend  againft  all  forts  of  people  aniong  us  5 
efpccially  in  Accusations  of  the  Innocent. 

III.  Some  Con j-aurcs  upon  the  great  EVENTS,,  likely: 
to  befall,  the  WORLD  in  Genera1,,  and  NEW- EK- \ 
GLAND  in  Particular  j  as  alio  upon  the  Advances  oi  .' 
thoTLME,  when  we  lhaliiec  BETTER  DAYES. 

IV  A  fhort  Narrative  of  a  late  Outrage  committed  by*  a 
knot  of  WITCHES  in  Swede  UmCvcry  much  Retem- 
bli ng,  and  ib  far  Explaining,  That  under  which  pur  parts 
of  America,  have  laboured  I 

V.THE  DEVIL  DISCOVERED;  In  a  Brief  Difcourfe  upon 
tlioic  TEMPTATIONS,  which  arc  the  more  Ordinary  t^rviteP. 

of  the  Wicked  One. '  

By  Coftott  $®athez. 

&8m  Fmvtibi&q,  ^mjw  Sam.  Phillips,    id^ 

"TITLE    OF    COTTON    MATHER'S    "THE    WONDERS    OF    THE    INVISIBLE    WORLD 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  173 

his  habits  of  expression  and  has  no  point.  Apart  from  this 
misconstruction,  there  is  nothing  in  the  records  to  set  off 
against  the  weighty  evidence  of  Mather's  own  rules  of  pro- 
cedure, which  were  in  themselves  the  strongest  condemna- 
tion the  court  could  have  had.  Longfellow's  picture  of  Ma- 
ther in  his  tragedy  of  Giles  Corey  seems  absolutely  justified, 
except  in  one  trifling  particular,  when  he  makes  him  say  to 
Mary  Walcott,  "  Accept  an  old  man's  blessing,"  which  from 
a  spruce  young  minister  of  twenty-nine  is,  no  doubt,  a  slight 
anachronism. 

The  reign  of  terror  we  have  been  describing  was  the  ex- 
piring paroxysm  of  the  witchcraft  delusion.  In  the  energy 
of  the  reaction  sceptics  declared  themselves  in  all  quarters. 
How  Judge  Sewall,  only  five  years  afterward,  got 

J        &  '  J  J  '  &  Judge  Sew- 

Up  in  the  Old  South  Church  and  publicly  acknow-   ails  public 

.,,...  ,  .     .  acknovvledg- 

ledged  his  shame  and  repentance  is  known  to  every   ment  of 
one.     Not  all  the  court  were  so  open  to  conviction. 
Stoughton,   who   was   at   best  a   narrow-minded  and  cross- 
grained  creature,  maintained  to  his  dying  day  that  he  had 
done  nothing  to  be  sorry  for.     Of  the  wretched  children,  one 
of  the  most  active,  Ann  Putnam,  fourteen  years 
afterward,  humbled  herself  before  the  village  church    Putnam's 
at  Salem  and  declared  that  she  had  been  instru- 
mental, with  others,  in  bringing  upon  the  land  the  guilt  of 
innocent  blood ;    "  though   what    was   said   or   done  by  me 
against  any  person,  I  can  truly  and  uprightly  say  before  God 
and  man,  I  did  it  not  out  of  any  anger,  malice,  or  ill-will  to 
any  person,  for  I  had  no  such  thing  against  one  of  them,  but 
what   I  did  was  ignorantly,  being  deluded  of  Satan.     And 
particularly  as  I  was  a  chief  instrument  of  accusing  Goodwife 
Nurse  and  her  two  sisters,  I  desire  to  lie  in  the  dust  and  to 
be  humbled  for  it,  in  that  I  was  a  cause,  with  others,  of  so 
sad  a  calamity  to  them  and  their  families."  2 

I  think  we  should  accept  this  solemn  disclaimer  of  malice 
1  [Nevins,  Witchcraft  in  Salem  Village,  p.  250. J 


174  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 


cjTi?rited \jZcJix.(L 


as  sufficient  evidence  that  in  1706  the  poor  girl  did  not  be- 
lieve herself  to  have  been  actuated  by  unworthy  motives  in 
1692.  By  declaring  herself  to  have  been  deluded  by  Satan 
she  meant  that  when  she  accused  Rebecca  Nurse  and  George 
Burroughs  and  others  she  said  what  she  believed  to  be  true 
at  the  time,  but  had  since  learned  to  reject  as  false.  In  other 
words,  when  a  little  girl  of  twelve,  she  believed  that  she  had 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  175 

seen  the  ghosts  of  Mr.  Burroughs's  wives  and  other  persons 
who  said  that  they  had  been  murdered,  but  as  a  young 
woman  of  six  and  twenty  she  looked  back  upon  this  as  a 
delusion,  and  charged  it  to  Satan.  This  brings  us  to  the  ques- 
tion, Are  we  justified  in  accepting  this  explanation  Were  the 
of  Ann  Putnam  as  to  her  own  conduct,  and  shall  J^J*r 
we  suppose  the  case  to  have  been  substantially  the  shamming? 
same  with  the  other  girls  ?  Did  they  really  have  visions  of 
ghosts  and  black  men  and  yellow  birds  and  devil's  autograph 
books,  or  was  it  all  a  lie  ?  Did  they  really  fall  into  convul- 
sions, and  fancy  themselves  pricked  with  pins,  and  cut  and 
bitten,  or  was  all  that  put  on  for  effect  ?  In  his  elaborate 
history  Mr.  Upham  seems  to  incline  toward  the  latter  view. 
Certainly  the  fits  came  and  went,  and  the  ghost  stories  were 
told,  as  if  to  order,  and  certainly  there  was  methodical  co- 
operation of  some  sort,  if  not  collusion,  between  most  if  not 
all  the  girls,  and  Ann  Putnam's  mother  and  the  Evidences 
minister  Parris.  There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  such  of  collusion 
cooperation.  They  all  worked  together  as  harmoniously  and 
relentlessly  as  the  cog-wheels  in  a  machine.  Of  the  victims 
from  Salem  Village  and  the  towns  near  by,  a  large  majority 
were  persons  against  whom  either  the  Putnam  family,  or  the 
minister,  or  some  of  the  afflicted  girls,  are  known  to  have 
entertained  a  grudge ;  others  were  sceptics  whose  scoffing 
remarks  were  liable  to  weaken  the  authority  of  the  accusers. 
When  we  have  eliminated  these  two  classes,  very  few  names 
are  left.  Like  the  tracks  of  various  beasts  which  Master 
Reynard  saw,  all  pointing  toward  the  lion's  cave  and  none 
coming  out  from  it,  the  traces  of  evidence  here  all  point 
in  the  same  direction, — all  point  toward  methodical  coopera- 
tion between  the  accusers. 

The  question  remains,  however,  was  this  cooperation  a  case 
of  conscious  and  deliberate  conspiracy,  or  must  we  seek  some 
other  explanation  ?  The  theory  of  conspiracy,  toward  which 
Mr.  Upham  seems  inclined,  offers  us  a  spectacle  of  astound- 


176  NEW  FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

ing  wickedness.  We  are  asked  to  believe  that  a  minister  of 
the  gospel  and  a  lady  of  high  position  in  the  community  make 
up  their  minds  to  destroy  their  enemies,  and  for  that  purpose 
employ  young  girls  in  their  families  to  pretend  illness  and 
bring  false  accusations   conceived  and  supported 

Was  there  p  L  r 

a  deliberate  with  all  the  skill  of  trained  actresses !  Such  a 
conspiracy  is  much  too  diabolical  and  altogether  too 
elaborate  for  belief.  Moreover,  it  leaves  out  of  account  the 
most  important  fact  in  the  whole  case,  —  the  fact  that  the 
accusers,  like  nearly  all  the  rest  of  the  community,  unques- 
tionably believed  in  the  reality  of  witchcraft.  It  will  not  do 
to  invest  those  poor  girls  with  a  nineteenth  century  con- 
sciousness. The  same  delusion  that  conquered  learned  magis- 
trates led  them  also  astray.  Still  more,  they  were  doubtless 
in  a  morbid  mental  condition.  A  large  part  of  Indian  medi- 
cine consists  of  convulsive  muscular  movements, 

Contagion  .      ,  .  .  ,  .  -it 

of  hysterical  twitching,  capering,  and  groaning,  accompanied  by 
an  awestruck  belief  in  the  presence  of  some  super- 
natural agency.  Such  convulsive  movements  tend  to  prolong 
themselves,  to  recur  with  spasmodic  violence,  and  they  are 
in  a  high  degree  contagious.  Abundant  instances  may  be 
found  among  the  experiences  of  revival  meetings,  where  mul- 
titudes of  ignorant  minds  are  at  work  after  much  the  same 
fashion  as  the  Indian's,  though  in  connection  with  different 
religious  symbols.  This  kind  of  hysterical  excitement  selects 
for  its  victims  impressionable  people  with  sensitive  nerves; 
it  attacks  children  more  frequently  than  adults,  and  women 
more  frequently  than  men ;  vivacious  and  quickly 

Psychology  n  J  t  •  • 

ofhaiiucina-  responsive  temperaments  are  more  subject  to  it 
than  those  that  are  phlegmatic  and  slow.  Under 
suitable  circumstances  it  easily  develops  into  a  thoroughly 
morbid  mental  state,  in  which  convulsive  movements  are 
attended  by  partial  and  temporary  hallucinations  ;  the  ner- 
vous impressions  become  so  vivid  that  ideas  are  clothed  with 
externality  and  mistaken  for  realities.     Such  are  the  charac- 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  177 

teristics  of  hysteria  and  allied  forms  of  mental  disturbance, 
which  differ  from  true  insanity  in  being  merely  temporary 
and  functional,  and  not  connected  with  any  organic  lesion. 
They  are  very  striking  phenomena,  and  often  very  shocking, 
but  not  more  mysterious  than  many  other  phases  of  abnor- 
mal mental  life.  It  was  not  strange  that  an  ignorant  age 
should  have  called  them  the  result  of  witchcraft ;  that  same 
age,  we  must  remember,  regarded  ordinary  insanity  as  the 
direct  work  of  the  devil. 

Applying  these  considerations  to  the  case  of  the  Salem 
girls,  we  may  suppose  that  the  minister's  West  Indian  ser- 
vants began  by  talking  Indian  medicine  and  teaching  its 
tricks  to  his  daughter  and  niece  ;  then  the  girls  of  their  ac- 
quaintance would  naturally  become  interested,  and  would 
seek  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  the  winter  evenings  by  tak- 
ing part  in  the  performances.  Their  first  motives  are  most 
likely  to  have  been  playful,  but  there  was  probably  Playin(T 
a  half-shuddering  sense  of  wickedness,  a  slight  Wlth  fire 
aroma  of  brimstone,  about  the  affair,  which  may  have  made 
it  the  more  attractive.  I  feel  sure  that  sooner  or  later  some 
of  those  girls  would  find  themselves  losing  control  over  their 
spasms,  and  thus,  getting  more  than  they  had  bargained  for, 
would  deem  themselves  bewitched  by  Tituba  and  John  In- 
dian. But,  especially  if  they  found  themselves  taken  to  task 
by  their  parents,  the  dread  of  punishment  —  perhaps  of  church 
discipline,  wherein  Parris  was  notably  severe  —  would  be  sure 
to  make  them  blame  the  Indians  in  order  to  screen  them- 
selves. If  Cotton  Mather's  methods  had  now  been  followed, 
the  affair  would  have  been  hushed,  and  the  girls  isolated  from 
each  other  would  have  been  subjected  to  quiet  and  The  evils  of 
soothing  treatment ;  and  thus  no  doubt  it  would  El^exlmi-" 
all  have  ended.  But  when  Parris  made  the  affair  nations 
as  public  as  possible,  when  learned  doctors  of  divinity  and 
medicine  came  and  watched  those  girls,  and  declared  them 
bewitched,  what  more  was  needed  to  convince  their  young 


178  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

minds  that  they  were  really  in  that  dreadful  plight  ?  Such 
a  belief  must  of  course  have  added  to  their  hysterical  con- 
dition. Naturally  they  accused  Tituba,  and  as  for  the  two 
old  women,  Good  and  Osburn,  very  likely  some  of  the  girls 
may  really  have  been  afraid  of  them  as  evil-eyed  or  otherwise 
uncanny. 

For  the  rest  of  the  story  a  guiding  influence  is  needed,  and 
I  think  we  may  find  it  in  Mrs.  Putnam.  She  was  one  of  the 
Carrs  of  Salisbury,  a  family  which  for  several  generations 
Expiana-  had  been  known  as  extremely  nervous  and  excita- 
Putnam^rS'  ble.  There  had  been  cases  of  insanity  among  her 
Part  near  relatives.     The  deaths  of  some  of  her  own 

children  and  of  a  beloved  sister,  with  other  distressing  events, 
had  clouded  her  mind.  She  had  once  been  the  most  spar- 
kling and  brilliant  of  women,  but  was  sinking  into  melan- 
cholia at  the  time  when  the  first  stories  of  witchcraft  came 
from  the  parsonage  and  she  learned  that  her  little  daughter 
Ann,  a  precocious  and  imaginative  child,  was  one  of  the 
afflicted.  Mrs.  Putnam  and  her  husband  were  both  firm  be- 
lievers in  witchcraft.  I  do  not  think  it  strange  that  her  dis- 
eased mind  should  have  conjured  up  horrible  fancies  about 
Goodwife  Nurse,  member  of  a  family  which  she  probably 
hated  all  the  more  bitterly  for  the  high  esteem  in  which  it 
was  generally  held.  Mrs.  Putnam  fell  into  violent  hysterical 
fits  like  her  daughter,  and  their  bright  and  active  servant 
Mercy  Lewis  was  afflicted  likewise.  These  three,  with  the 
minister's  niece  Abigail  Williams  and  her  friend  Mary  Wal- 
cott,  were  the  most  aggressive  and  driving  agents  in  the 
she  whole  tragedy.     I  presume  Mrs.  Putnam  may  have 

hypnotic  exercised  something  like  what  it  is  now  fashionable 
overThe  ^°  ca^  hypnotic  influence  over  the  young  girls, 
children  ghe  honestly  believed  that  witches  were  hurting 
them  all,  and  she  naturally  suspected  foes  rather  than  friends. 
I  see  no  good  reason  for  doubting  that  she  fully  believed  her 
own  ghost  stories,  or  that  the  children  believed  theirs.     In 


WITCHCRAFT    IN    SALEM    VILLAGE  179 

their  exalted  state  of  mind  they  could  not  distinguish  be- 
tween what  they  really  saw  and  what  they  vividly  fancied. 
It  was  analogous  to  what  often  occurs  in  delirium. 

Such  an  explanation  of  the  witchcraft  in  Salem  Village 
accounts  for  the  facts  much  better  than  any  such  violent 
supposition  as  that  of  conscious  conspiracy.  Our  fit  attitude 
of  mind  toward  it  is  pity  for  all  concerned,  yet  the  feelings 
of  horror  and  disgust  are  quite  legitimate,  for  the  course  of 
the  affair  was  practically  the  same  as  if  it  had  been  shaped 
by  deliberate  and  conscious  malice.  It  is  on  the  whole  the 
most  gruesome  episode  in  American  history,  and  it  sheds 
back  a  lurid  light  upon  the  long  tale  of  witchcraft  in  the 
past.  Few  instances  of  the  delusion  have  attracted  so  much 
attention  as  this  at  Salem,  and  few  have  had  the  details  so 
fully  and  minutely  preserved.  It  was  the  last  witch  epi- 
demic recorded  in  the  history  of  fully  civilized  nations.  It 
occurred  among  people  of  our  own  sort,  and  the  sixth  gen- 
eration, born  since  it  happened,  has  not  yet  passed  away. 
It  came  just  as  the  superstition  which  produced  it  was  about 
to  die  out  from  the  thoughts  of  educated  men,  and  there  is 
no  monument  more  conspicuous  than  the  Salem  Witchcraft 
to  mark  the  remote  and  fast  receding  side  of  the  gulf  which 
the  human  mind  has  traversed  in  these  two  centuries.  For 
these  reasons  it  looms  up  in  our  memory,  and  is  sometimes 
alluded  to  as  if  it  were  in  some  way  a  singular  or  exceptional 
instance  of  superstition.  Yet  in  Europe,  only  a  few  years 
earlier,  the  hanging  of  nineteen  persons  for  witchcraft  in  a 
single  village  and  in  the  course  of  a  single  summer  would 
have  called  forth  no  special  comment.  The  case  Thecaseof 
of  Salem  Village  may  help  us  in  the  attempt  to  SaiemVii- 
form  some  dim  conception  of  the  stupendous  one  to  reai- 
wickedness  that  must  have  been  wrought  by  the  rors  of  the 
terrible  delusion  in  the  days  of  its  stalwart  prime,  delusion  in 
when  victims  by  the  hundred  were  burned  at  the  the  past 
stake.    We  can  but  faintly  imagine  what  must  have  been  the 


180  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

destruction  of  confidence,  the  breaking  of  the  dearest  ties, 
the  madness,  the  reign  of  savage  terror ;  and  we  cannot  be 
too  grateful  that  the  gaunt  spectre  which  stalked  so  long 
over  the  fairest  parts  of  earth  has  at  length  been  exorcised 
forever ! 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE    GREAT    AWAKENING 

One  of  the  effects  of  the  witchcraft  epidemic  at  Salem 
was  to  cast  discredit  upon  the  clergy,  who  still  represented 
the  old   theocratic  ideal  which  had  founded  the  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts.     It  is  true,  that  with  regard  to  the 
prosecutions  of  witches,  the  more  eminent  among  the  clergy 
had  behaved  with  much  wisdom  and  discretion ;  nevertheless, 
the  new  public  opinion,  receiving  its  tone  far  more 
from  laymen  than  formerly,  was  inclined  to  charge   reaction 
this  whole  business  of  diabolism  to  the  account  of   witchcraft 
the  men  who  represented   an  old   and  discredited     e  uslon 
state  of  things.     With  regard  to  the  reality  of  witchcraft, 
Cotton  Mather  had  been  foremost  among  the  defenders  of 
the  belief,  and  now  that  there  came  a  sudden  and  violent 
reaction  against  the  superstition,  it  made  little  difference  to 
people  that  he  had  been  remarkably  discreet  and  temperate 
in  his  handling  of  the  matter ;  it  was  enough  that  he  had 
been  a  believer  and  prominent  advocate.     To  some   extent 
Cotton  Mather  was  made  the  chief  butt  of  popular  resent- 
ment because  he  and  his  .  father  especially  typified  the  old 
theocratic  state  of  things. 

Now  the  old  Puritan  theocracy  in  the  early  days  when 
Winthrop  and  Cotton  led  it  had  framed  for  itself  an  ideal  of 
society  that  was  at  least  lofty  and  noble,  although  from  the 
first  there  were  settlers  who  dissented  from  it.  The  defen- 
sive wall  behind  which  the  theocracy  sought  to  shelter  itself 
from  all  hostile  attack  was  the  restriction  of  the  rights  to 
vote  and    hold    office    to    members    of    the   Congregational 


182  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

churches  in  full  communion.  One  of  the  first  effects  of 
this  policy  was  to  drive  away  from  Massachusetts  the  men 
who  founded  Connecticut 1  and  some  of  those  who  founded 
Rhode  Island ;  but  after  such  depletions  there  was  a  consid- 
erable number  left  in  Massachusetts  who  were  disfranchised, 
and  who  would  have  been  glad  in  many  respects  to  secularize 
the  government.  In  the  second  period  of  the  theocracy,  with 
Rise  of  Endicott,  Bellingham,  and  Norton  at  the  head,  the 
secular  opposition    had    become    very   strong ;    indeed,   it 

to  the  numbered  a  majority  of  the  population.    When  the 

theocracy  _       .  .        .        J  ,  ,  . 

Quakers  arrived  upon  the  scene,  determined  to 
stay  in  the  Commonwealth  at  all  hazards  and  thus  destroy 
its  character  as  a  united  body  of  believers,  there  is  little 
doubt  that  a  majority  of  the  people  sympathized  with  them.2 
The  violent  policy  pursued  by  magistrates  and  ministers  soon 
failed  because  the  force  of  a  new  and  growing  public  opinion 
was  arrayed  against  it.  During  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  the 
course  of  the  theocracy,  in  spite  of  its  narrowness  and  ar- 
rogance, commands  our  admiration  for  the  boldness  with 
which  it  resisted  all  attempts  of  the  British  government  to 
interfere  with  the  local  administration  of  the  colony.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Massachusetts  theocracy  then  made 
a  splendid  fight  for  the  principles  of  political  freedom,  so  far 
as  they  concerned  the  relation  between  a  colonial  and  im- 
perial government.  At  the  same  time,  the  theocracy  at 
home  was  felt  as  more  and  more  oppressive.  By  the  time 
of  the  death  of  Charles  II.  it  was  reckoned  that  four  fifths 
of  the  adult  males  in  Massachusetts  were  disfranchised  be- 
cause of  inability  to  participate  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  is 
not  strange,  therefore,  that  between  the  one  fifth  who  ruled, 

1  [Fiske,  The  Begi7inings  of  New  England,  Illustrated  Edition,  pp. 
133.  276.] 

2  [On  the  Quakers  in  Massachusetts,  cf.  Fiske,  The  Beginnings  of 
New  England,  Illustrated  Edition,  pp.  205  ff.  ;  Doyle,  The  English 
in  America,  The  PuritUn  Colonies,  ii.  I26ff.  ;  and  R.  P.  Hallowell,  The 
Quaker  Invasion  of  Massachusetts.'] 


THE   GREAT   AWAKENING  183 

and  the  four  fifths  who  had  no  voice  in  ruling,  there  should 
have  been  marked  differences  of  policy  accompanied  with  a 
good  deal  of  ill-feeling. 

In  view  of  such  difficulties  which  began  to  be  foreseen 
soon  after  1650,  an  opinion  grew  up  that  all  baptized  persons 
of  upright  and  decorous  lives  ought  to  be  considered,  for 
practical  purposes,  as  members  of  the  church,  and  therefore 
entitled  to  the  exercise  of  political  rights,  even  though  un- 
qualified for  participation  in  the  Lord's  Supper.     This  theory, 
according  to  which  a  person  might  be  a  halfway 
member  of  the  church,  —  member  enough  for  polit-    Halfway 
ical  purposes,  but  not  for  religious,  —  was  known  at 
the  time  as  the  "  Halfway  Covenant."  x     It  formed  the  occa- 
sion for  prolonged  and  bitter  controversy,  in  which  prom- 
inent clergymen  took  opposite  sides.      It  was  contended  by 
some  that  its  natural  tendency  would  be  toward  the  spiritual 
demoralization  of  the  church,  while  others  denied  that  such 
would  be  its  practical  effect,  and  pointed  to  the  lamentable 
severance  between  ecclesiastics  and  laymen  as  a  much  greater 
evil.      In  the  First  Church  of  Boston,  the  Halfway  Covenant 
was  decisively  condemned,  and  the  Rev.  John  Davenport,  a 
theocrat  of  extreme  type,  was  called  from  New  Haven  to  be 
its  pastor.     Then  the  minority  in  the  church,  who  approved 
of  the    Halfway   Covenant,    seceded    in    1669   and   formed 
themselves  into  a  new  society  known  as  the  South    TheSouth 
Church,  further  defined  in  later  days  as  the  "  Old    Church 
South."     The  wooden  meeting-house  of  this  society,  which 
occupied  the  spot  of   land  upon  which  its  brick  successor 

1  [Cf.  Dexter,  Congregationalism  as  seen  i?i  its  Literature,  pp. 
467  ff.  ;  Walker,  History  of  Congregational  Churches,  pp.  170  ff.; 
Trumbull,  History  of  Connecticut,  i.  296  ff. ;  Palfrey,  History  of  New 
England,  ii.  487  ff . ;  Doyle,  The  English  in  Ame?'ica,  The  Puritan 
Colonies,  ii.  96;  Bancroft,  History  of  the  United  States  (author's  last 
revision),  i.  360  ;  Massachusetts  Colonial  Records,  vol.  iv.  pt.  ii.  pp.  117 
and  164.  Dr.  Dexter,  p.  476,  gives  two  specimen  "Halfway  Cove- 
nants."] 


1 84  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

still  stands  to-day,  was  a  favorite  place  for  meetings  which 
dealt  with  political  questions,  and  in  a  certain  sense  its 
founding  may  be  regarded  as  a  kind  of  political  safety  valve 
for  the  agitation  in  Massachusetts.1 

In  spite  of  such  palliatives,  however,  the  opposition  grew, 

and  it  was  apt  to  take  the  form  of  political  Toryism,  or  a 

disposition  to  uphold  the  British  government  in  its  contests 

with  the  theocracy.     From  this  point  of  view  we 

1  he  oppo-  J  A 

sition  to  may  regard  Joseph  Dudley  and  his  friends  as  the 
cracy  lays      founders  of  New  England  Toryism.     Boston  was 

the  foun-         .  .  .  r  .    . 

dation  of  becoming  a  place  of  some  commercial  note,  sus- 
taining business  relations  with  various  parts  of  the 
world.  Among  its  residents  were  members  of  the  Church 
of  England,  who  desired  a  place  of  worship  for  themselves, 
and  naturally  felt  indignant  that  nothing  of  the  sort  was 
allowed  to  be  provided. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  the  old  charter  was  re- 
scinded, and  Sir  Edmund  Andros  was  sent  by  James  II.  to 
govern  New  England  according  to  his  own  sweet  will,  with- 
out any  constitutional  checks  or  limitations.  The  rule  of 
Andros  produced  for  the  moment  something  approaching  to 
unanimity  of  opposition,  for  there  were  few  men  in  Massa- 
chusetts ready  to  surrender  the  charter  of  their  liberties, 
although  there  were  many  who  would  be  glad  to  see  it 
modified.  After  the  well-planned  and  fortunate  insurrection 
which  expelled  Andros,  the  representatives  of  the  theocracy, 
and  in  particular  Increase  Mather,  made  every  effort  to  ob- 
tain from  William  III.  a  charter  essentially  similar  to  the 
The  new  °ld  one.  In  this  they  were  completely  defeated. 
charter  of      -r^e  new  charter,  with  its  substitution  of  a  royal 

Massachu-  '  J 

setts  governor  for  a  governor  elected  by  church  mem- 

bers, dealt  a  serious  blow  at  the  independence  of  the  Com- 
monwealth.    At  the  same  time  the  wide  extension  of  the 

1  [Mr.  Fiske  writes  a  little  more  fully  of  this  movement  in  The  Be- 
ginnings of  New  England,  Illustrated  Edition,  pp.  278  ff.] 


THE    GREAT   AWAKENING 


185 


suffrage,  and  its  limitation  only  by  a  property  qualification, 
was  equivalent  to  the  death-blow  of  the  old  theocracy.  It 
was  a  revolution,  the  severity  of  which  for  the  clergy  was 
but  slightly  disguised  by  the  appointment  of  Mather's  can- 
didate, Sir  William  Phips,  to  be  the  first  royal  governor.1 

Five  years  after  the  new  charter  had  gone  into  operation, 
an  event  occurred  which  illustrated  most  strikingly  the  decline 
in  the  power  of  the  clergy.     Increase  Mather  had  been  for 
many  years  minister  of  the  North  Church  in  Boston,  and  in 
1685  was  appointed  president  of  Harvard,  but  continued  to 
live  in  Boston.     During  the  Andros  interval  he  was  occupied 
in  protecting  the  interests  of  the  colony  in 
London.     Thus  the  management  of  affairs      W^WtrtkM^ 
at  Harvard  was  left  chiefly  in  the  hands  of 
William  Brattle  and  John  Leverett,  who  both  belonged  to  the 
extreme  liberal  wing  of  the  clergy  ;  for  the  influences  which 
were  raising  up  a  crop  of  free  thinkers  for  the  eighteenth 
century  in  England  were  not  entirely  without  effect  in  the 
English  colonies.     Under  the  influence  of  Brattle  and  Lev- 
erett, grew  up  Benjamin  Colman,  who  took  his  master's  de- 
gree at  Harvard  in  1695,  and  then  went  to  England,  where  he 
was  settled  over 
a  congregation  at 
Bath.  The  group 
of  liberals  in  Bos- 
ton   was    stead- 
ily increasing  in 
number,  and  one 
of      their     lead- 
ers was  Thomas 
Brattle,  treasurer  of  Harvard,  a  wealthy  merchant  whose  lei- 
sure hours  were  more  or  less  devoted  to  astronomy  and  phy- 
sics.    He  was  the  author  of  several  papers  on  lunar  eclipses 
and  of  an  able  criticism  of  the  witchcraft  delusion.    In  1698 
1  [On  the  new  charter,  see  Palfrey,  iv.  76.] 


186  NEW  FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

Thomas  Brattle  conveyed  to  a  body  of  trustees  the  land  upon 
The  Brattle  which  a  new  meeting-house  was  to  be  built,  and  in  the 
founded  following  year  an  invitation  was  sent  to  Benjamin 
1698  Colman  to  become  the  pastor  of  the  new  Brattle 

Church.     Upon  Colman's  arrival  in  Boston,  his  church  issued 


BENJAMIN    COLMAN 


a  manifesto  in  which  two  startling  novelties  were  announced. 
It  had  been  the  custom  to  require  from  all  candidates  for 
admission  to  the  Lord's  Supper  not  only  a  general  subscrip- 
tion to  the  Westminster  creed,  but  also  a  relation  of  personal 


THE   GREAT   AWAKENING  187 

experiences,  which  in  order  to  insure  their  admission  must 
be  satisfactory  to  the  presiding  clergy.  The  new  church 
announced  that  it  would  dispense  with  such  personal  expe- 
riences, requiring  merely  a  formal  subscription  to  the  West- 
minster creed.  It  had  also  been  customary  to  confine  the 
choice  of  a  minister  to  the  male  communicants  alone ;  the 
new  church  proposed  to  allow  all  members  of  the  Relaxation 
congregation  who  contributed  money  toward  the  So^V 
support  of  the  church  to  have  votes  in  the  election  membershlP 
of  ministers.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  the  far- 
reaching  character  of  these  provisions  in  allowing  a  whole- 
some opportunity  for  variations  in  individual  opinion  to  creep 
into  the  church.  A  body  of  ministers  elected  only  by  com- 
municants, and  able  to  exclude  all  communicants  save  such 
as  could  satisfy  them  in  a  relation  of  personal  experiences, 
was  naturally  able  to  exert  a  very  powerful  influence  in  re- 
pressing individual  divergences.  The  Mathers  were  quite 
right  in  thinking  that  the  Brattles  and  their  friends  aimed  a 
blow  at  the  vitals  of  the  church.  On  the  5  th  of  January,  J^9, 
Cotton  Mather  writes  in  his  diary  :  "I  see  Satan  beginning  a 
terrible  shake  in  the  churches  of  New  England, 
and  the  innovators  that  have  set  up  a  new  church    Mather's 

alarm 

in  Boston  (a  new  one,  indeed  !)  have  made  a  day 
of  temptation  among  us.     The  men  are  ignorant,  arrogant, 
obstinate,  and  full  of  malice  and  slander,  and   they  fill  the 
land  with  lies.   .   .   .  Wherefore  I  set  apart  this  day  again  for 
prayer  in  my  study,  to  cry  mightily  unto  God."1 

It  was  indeed  probable  that  should  the  new  Brattle  Church 
succeed  in  obtaining  recognition  as  a  Congregational  church 
in  good  standing,  it  would  create  a  precedent  for  latitudina- 
rianism  which  might  be  pushed  to  almost  any  extent,  and 
yet  there  was  no  available  method  of  preventing  it.  Under 
the  old  theocracy,  that  clause  of  the  Cambridge  Platform 
would  have  been  sufficient  which  enjoined  it  upon  the  magis- 
1  [See  Quincy's  Hist,  of  Harvard  University ,  i.  487.] 


1 88  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

trates  to  suppress  heresy.  Had  the  old  state  of  things  con- 
tinued in  1699,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Leverett,  Col- 
man,  and  the  two  Brattles  would  either  have  been  expelled 
The  theo-  from  the  Commonwealth  or  heavily  fined,  as  had 
cracy  help-     been  the  case  with  William  Vassall,  Robert  Child, 

less  under  ' 

the  new  and  their  companions.  But  the  Cambridge  Plat- 
charter 

form  had  fallen  with  the  fall  of  the  old  charter ;  and 
although  Increase  Mather  had  endeavoured  to  obtain  a  pro- 
vision substantially  replacing  it,  King  William,  who  was  no 
friend  to  theocracies,  would  not  hear  of  such  a  thing.  The 
Mathers  were  therefore  reduced  to  the  expedient  of  declin- 
The  new  ing  to  exchange  pulpits  with  the  new  pastor  ;  this 
finally1  refusal  of  ecclesiastical  courtesies  was  all  that  was 

recognized     je£t  for  themj  ancj  from    tne  theocratic   point  of 

view  one  cannot  wonder  if  they  thought  that  in  some  essential 
respects  the  world  was  coming  to  an  end.  In  the  course  of 
the  following  year  a  kind  of  peace  was  patched  up  between 
the  party  of  the  Brattles  and  that  of  the  Mathers,  and  bless- 
ings were  interchanged,  but  as  we  look  back  upon  the  affair 
we  can  see  that  the  theocracy  had  received  a  fatal  blow. 

The  increasing  power  of  the  liberals  was  displayed  about 
the  same  time  in  what  went  on  at  Harvard  College.  The 
charter  of  1650,  by  which  the  Company  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  had  incorporated  that  institution,  was  generally  regarded 
as  having  lost  its  validity  when  the  charter  of  the  company 
was  repealed  ;  and  although  things  went  on  about  as  usual 
at  the  college,  it  was  felt  that  things  stood  upon  a  precarious 
footing.  But  to  obtain  a  new  charter  which  would  be  satis- 
The  effort  factory  to  the  theocrats  was  no  easy  matter,  for 
chapter  for™  any  sucn  cnarter  must  either  exclude  or  allow  the 
Harvard  exclusion  from  the  teaching  body  of  all  persons  not 
in  communion  with  the  Congregational  church,  and  King 
William  would  never  consent  to  the  exclusion  of  Episcopa- 
lians. It  will  be  remembered  that  one  of  the  chief  sources 
of  contention  between  Charles   II.  and  the  government  of 


Jjtfartrs*  fttfi 


T  II  L 


(  7 *'**2£--#tO%  £/ 

Life  and  Character 


OF    THE 
Reverend 

Benjamin  Caiman,  D.  D, 

Late'  Paftor  of  a  G6*rf$  in  Boston  New-Ekglant 
Who  Deceafed  Auguft  29th  1747. 


By     E  B  E  N  EZER    T  U  R  E  L  L,  A.  M. 
Paftor  of  Medford. 


Rev.  ii.   19.  I  know  thy — Service. 

" A  M   AWw  nati  fuxtui  — 

-fig 


.5  0  Sf  O  A*    Ni  w-Btoi  fNo, 

<;eri  and  Sold  by  RoctRi  and  Fowm  in  Queen  Hree! 
and  by  J.  J'd«-ard<  in  CornhiH. 


MDCCNT.IX 


TITLE    OF    TURELL'S    "THE    LIFE    AND    CHARACTER'' 


190  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

Boston  had  been  the  repressive  policy  pursued  by  the  latter 
toward  members  of  the  Church  of  England.  King  William 
felt,  both  as  an  advocate  of  liberalism  and  as  the  representa- 
tive of  imperial  authority,  that  no  concessions  could  be  al- 
lowed to  the  theocracy  on  this  point.  In  1699  the  party  of 
the  Mathers  introduced  a  bill  into  the  General  Court,  provid- 
ing for  a  religious  test  in  Harvard  College,  the  substance  of 
which  was,  "  that  in  the  charter  for  the  college,  our  holy 
religion  may  be  secured  to  us  and  unto  our  posterity,  by  a 
provision  that  no  person  shall  be  chosen  president  or  fellow 
of  the  college,  but  such  as  declare  their  adherence  unto  the 
principles  of  reformation  which  were  espoused  and  intended 
by  those  who  first  settled  the  country  .  .  .  and  have  hitherto 
been  the  general  professions  of  New  England."  This  bill 
passed  both  houses,  but,  fortunately,  was  vetoed  by  the  royal 
governor,  Lord  Bellomont.  Meanwhile,  the  discontent  in 
Governor  Cambridge  arising  from  President  Mather's  non- 
Beiiomont     residence  had  been  increasing-.     That  worthy  divine 

vetoes  a  test  °  J 

act  for  coi-     seems  to  have  felt  more  attachment  to  his  church 

lege  officers 

in  Boston  than  toward  the  college.1  After  a  while 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Willard  of  the  Old  South  was  appointed 
vice-president  of  the  college,  but  he,  too,  seems  to  have  pre- 
ferred the  duties  of  pastor  to  those  of  administering  a  college, 
and  his  absenteeism  attracted  comment  as  well  as  Mather's. 
I  think,  however,  that  the  true  explanation  of  Mather's  diffi- 
culty with  the  college  lies  deeper.  There  can  be 
eraiism  in      no  doubt  that  between  1685  and  1700  the  intellec- 

the  college 

tual  atmosphere  of  the  college  was  rapidly  becom- 
ing more  and  more  liberal.  Leverett  and  the  Brattles  were  the 
ruling  spirits,  and  the  events  of  each  passing  year  made  Ma- 
ther more  and  more  uncongenial  to  them  ;  whereas,  Willard 
was  both  in  character  and  in  turn  of  thought  more  to  their 
mind.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  we  find  Mather's 
non-residence  complained  of,  while  the  same  fault  in  Willard 
1  [Se wall's  Diary,  i.  493.] 


THE    GREAT   AWAKENING  191 

is  but  lightly  noticed.  After  a  while  Mather  signified  that 
if  the  General  Court  were  not  satisfied  with  his  conduct,  it 
might  perhaps  be  well  for  them  to  choose  another  president. 
To  his  intense  chagrin,  he  was  taken  at  his  word,  and  in 
September,  1701,  the  dignity  and  duties  of  the  pre-  President 
sident  were  transferred  to  Willard,  who,  however,  father0 
retained  the  title  of  vice-president,  thus  somewhat  disPlaced 
softening  the  blow.  A  couple  of  entries  in  Judge  Sewall's 
diary  are  rather  amusing  in  this  connection.  Sewall  was  a 
member  of  the  court  which  had  just  wrought  this  change  in 
the  presidency.  The  first  entry  is:  "Mr.  Cotton  Mather 
came  to  Mr.  Wilkins's  shop,  and  there  talked  very  sharply 
against  me  as  if  I  had  used  his  father  worse  than  a  neger  ; 
spake  so  loud  that  people  in  the  street  might  hear  him.  .  .  . 
I  had  read  in  the  morning  Mr.  Dod's  saying  :  Sanctified  af- 
flictions are  good  promotions.  I  found  it  now  a  cordial." 
Then  follows  a  memorandum  :  "  Octr  9.  I  sent  Mr.  Increase 
Mather  a  hanch  of  very  good  venison  ;  I  hope  in  that  I  did 
not  treat  him  as  a  negro."  1  As  for  Cotton  Mather,  he  hoped 
to  be  chosen  president  of  Harvard  when  Willard 

r  Cotton 

should  die  or  resign,  but  he  did  not  read  correctly    Mather's 

,  .  r      ,  .  Tii  1  1   •  indignation 

the  signs  of  the  times,  nor  did  he  play  his  part 
with  skill  ;  for  he  chose  the  part  of  sulking,  and  went  so 
long  without  attending  the  meetings  of  the  corporation,  of 
which  he  was  a  member,  that  people  spoke  of  his  having  ab- 
dicated his  office.2     In   1702  Joseph  Dudley,  who  had  been 
in  England  ever  since  the  Andros  days  and  had  just  been 
appointed  to  succeed  Lord  Bellomont  as  governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts, arrived  in  Boston.     The  enmity  between   Governor 
Dudley  and  the  Mathers  was  of  long  standing,  and    Dudley 
may  be  said  to   have   had   its   origin  in   the  very  roots  of 
things.     Between  the  representatives  of  the  old  theocracy 
and  the  subtle  founder  of  Toryism  there  could  be  no  love 

1  [Sewall's  Diary,  ii.  43,  October  20,  1701.] 

2  [See  Quincy's  Hist,  of  Harvard  University,  i.  151.] 


192  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

lost  at  any  time  ;  on  the  other  hand,  by  that  very  law  of 
selection  which  was  apt  to  bring  together  revolters  against 
the  theocracy,  whether  for  religious  or  political  reasons,  a 
strong  alliance  grew  up  between  Dudley  and  Leverett. 
When  Willard  died,  in  September,  1707,  the  corporation  at 
once  chose  Leverett  as  his  successor.  At  his  instigation  a 
»,.  resolution  was  introduced  into  the  General  Court 

1  ne  new 

charter  for     declaring   that   the  charter  of    1650  was   still   in 

Harvard  a  °  J 

substantial  force  ;  or  rather,  enacting  a  charter  which  in  its 
mentofthat   essential  provisions  was  identical  with  the  old  one. 

This  charter  was  at  once  signed  by  Governor  Dud- 
ley.    The  English  Privy  Council  might  still  have  overturned 
it,  but  they  never  did,  so  after 
the  vicissitudes  of  the  great 
revolution  through  which  Mas- 
sachusetts  had  passed,   Har- 
vard College  started   quietly 
upon  a  new  chapter  in   her 
career,  with  her  hands  tied  as  little  as  possible  by  hamper- 
ing statutes  or  traditions. 

While  these  things  were  going  on  in  Massachusetts,  affairs 
were  taking  a  somewhat  different  turn  in  Connecticut.  The 
confederacy  of  river  towns  which  gave  birth  to  the  state  of 
Connecticut  had  represented  a  more  liberal  principle  than 
that  upon  which  Massachusetts  was  founded.  The  whole- 
sale migration  which  carried  the  people  of  Dorchester,  Cam- 
bridge, and  Watertown  to  the  Connecticut  River  was  a 
migration  of  people  for  whom  Massachusetts  was  too  theo- 
cratic.    In    Connecticut    there   was   no    restriction   of  civil 

rights  to  church  members  ;  the  relative  power  of 

Conditions  &  r 

inConnecti-  the  representatives  as  compared  with  the  Council 
of  Assistants  was  much  greater,  and  the  local  in- 
dependence of  the  several  towns  was  more  complete.  Con- 
necticut was  originally  more  democratic  and  more  liberal  in 
complexion  than  Massachusetts. 


THE   GREAT   AWAKENING  193 

On  the  other  hand,  the  federal  republic  of  New  Haven 
closely  resembled  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  but 
was  even  more  theocratic  and  aristocratic.1  But  the  union 
of  New  Haven  with  Connecticut  did  not  by  a  mixture  of 
plus  and  minus  make  a  commonwealth  quite  like    „     tt 

r  x  New  Haven 

Massachusetts.     The  most  theocratic  elements  in   annexed  to 

i-i  t       t  tvt  Connecticut 

New  Haven  either  migrated  in  large  bodies  to  New 
Jersey,  or  came  as  individuals  one  by  one  back  to  Massachu- 
setts. Of  those  who  remained  on  the  shores  of  Long  Island 
Sound,  the  greater  part  were  those  who  had  protested  against 
the  New  Haven  theocracy  with  its  exclusiveness.  On  the 
whole,  the  Connecticut  of  1670  to  1690  seems  to  have  been 
a  more  liberal-minded  community  than  Massachusetts. 

But  if  we  come  forward  into  the  nineteenth  century,  it 
can  hardly  be  denied  that  while  both  states  have  maintained 
a  high  intellectual  level,  Massachusetts  has  been  the  more 
liberal-minded  community.  Or,  if  a  different  phrase  be  pre- 
ferred, Massachusetts  has  been  somewhat  more  comparison 
prompt  in  adopting  new  ideas  or  in  following  out  chu^ttsand 
new  vistas  of  thought,  especially  in  all  matters  Connectlcut 
where  theology  is  concerned.  Or,  to  put  the  case  in  yet 
another  way,  Massachusetts  has  shown  less  hesitation  in 
departing  from  ancient  standards.  The  history  of  Unitari- 
anism  is  of  itself  a  sufficient  illustration  of  this.  To  some 
minds  the  rise  of  Unitarianism  seems  like  a  great  step  in 
advance  ;  to  other  minds  it  seems  like  a  deplorable  forsaking 
of  the  highroad  for  byways  that  lead  to  Doubting  Castle  ; 
but  all  will  agree  that  the  great  development  of  Unitarianism 
in  Massachusetts,  as  compared  with  its  small  development 
in  Connecticut,   shows  in  the   former   state   less   hesitation 

1  [After  the  Restoration  the  people  of  Connecticut  through  their 
governor,  the  younger  Winthrop,  secured  from  the  king  a  charter  which 
included  New  Haven  in  the  boundaries  allotted  to  Connecticut,  and  in 
spite  of  the  reluctance  of  the  people  of  New  Haven  the  absorption  of 
their  republic  was  consummated  in  1665.  Doyle,  The  Puritan  Colonies, 
ii.  154-162.] 


194  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

in  deviating  from  old  standards.  Something  of  the  same 
contrast  in  regard  to  deviation  is  shown  in  the  history 
Causes  of  of  Yale  College  as  contrasted  with  Harvard ;  no 
a)°nnserva-CUt  one  w^  deny  that  the  temper  of  the  former  has 
tism  been  more  conservative.     It  becomes  interesting, 

then,  to  inquire  what  has  produced  this  change.  In  what 
respect  have  circumstances  operated  to  render  the  career 
of  Connecticut  more  conservative  than  that  of  the  sister 
commonwealth  ?  Such  questions  are  always  difficult  to  an- 
swer with  confidence,  but  certain  facts  may  be  pointed  out 
which  have  a  bearing  upon  the  question. 

It  is  a  general  tendency  of  organizations  to  grow  more 
rigid  through  increase  of  rules  and  definitions,  and  to  inter- 
The  ten-  fere  more  and  more  with  the  free  play  of  individ- 
ganSatfons"  uanty  5  so  tnat  often  in  the  pursuit  of  a  given  end, 
to  become      ^e  orpranization  will  so  far  hamper  itself  as  to  de- 

ngid  and  °  r 

mechanical  crease  its  fitness  for  attaining  the  ends  desired ;  in 
other  words,  the  ends  become  a  matter  of  secondary  impor- 
tance, while  the  machinery  of  the  organization  absorbs  the  en- 
tire attention.  Especially  has  this  been  true  in  the  case  of 
ecclesiastical  organizations.  The  members  of  a  priesthood  are 
apt  to  acquire  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  importance  of  the 
body  to  which  they  belong  and  which  is  invested  by  public 
opinion  with  a  peculiar  sanctity,  and  they  are  apt  to  -feel 
justified  in  making  laws  and  regulations  tending  to  coerce  all 
their  members  into  conformity  with  some  prescribed  set  of 
m    .  rules.      In    Massachusetts    an    early   and    baneful 

The  in-  -\ 

stance  of       source   of    rigidity  was   the   Cambridge    Platform 

the  Cam-  .  .    .  . 

bridge  Plat-  of  1 648,  which  enjoined  it  upon  magistrates  to 
rm' '  4  punish  any  infractions  of  ecclesiastical  doctrine  or 
observance.  Among  the  fruits  of  this  Cambridge  Platform 
were  the  odious  proceedings  against  Baptists  and  Quakers, 
which  have  left  such  a  stain  upon  the  annals  of  Boston.  But 
it  is  worthy  of  note  that  owing  to  the  very  restrictions  which 
confined  the  civil  liberties  of  Massachusetts  to  communing 


A 
CONFESSION 

FAITH 

Owned  and  Confrnted  to    hy  the- 

Elders  and  tMeffengers  • 

Ci  ths  CHURCHES 
fa  the  Colony  of  CONNSCf/CVT  in 

NEW-ENGLAND, 

Ailernbled  by    JDefrgation  at  Say  Brook 

Se premier    <)  b.  iyorS. 


Col,  %    c.    -Joying  a*J.  IfholJing   your 

Orjfer    anA   the  jieac!jaynejs     oj  your 
Vii'h  In  Cb'nfi. 


Nov,  -London  in  N.  E. 
Printed  b^Thor^as  Short, 

1710 


TITLE  OF  THE  SAYBROOK  PLATFORM 


196  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

church  members,  a  large  body  of  citizens  grew  up  in  opposi- 
tion, so  that  the  Commonwealth  was  never  deprived  of  the 
healthful  stimulus  of  competition  and  struggle  between  op- 
posing views  in  interest.  To  such  a  point  had  this  conflict 
come  that  when,  in  1699,  an  attempt  was  made  to  fasten  a 
religious  test  upon  Harvard,  it  fell  to  the  ground,  and  that 
critical  period  of  the  history  of  the  Commonwealth  saw 
Harvard  falling  more  and  more  completely  under  the  guid- 
Lack  of  a  ance  oi  the  party  opposed  to  the  old  theocracy. 
positio°n  m  On  tne  other  hand,  Connecticut  pursued  the  even 
Connecticut  tenor  of  her  way  from  the  first  beginnings  into  the 
nineteenth  century  with  comparatively  little  severe  internal 
commotion.  She  had  for  a  moment,  of  course,  resented 
the  arrogance  of  Andros,  but  her  constitution  was  never 
wrenched  out  of  shape  by  such  violent  changes  as  those 
which  Massachusetts  witnessed  after  1685.  I  think  we  must 
attribute  it  to  this  very  fact  of  the  slightness  and  gentleness 
of  the  opposition,  —  to  the  comparative  mildness  of  ecclesi- 
astical life  in  Connecticut,  —  that  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century  her  clergymen  and  people  should  have 
yielded  so  easily  to  the  natural  impulse  to  improve,  or, 
rather,  to  define  and  limit  their  ecclesiastical  organizations. 
By  that  time  it  had  come  to  seem  to  many  worthy  people 
that  the  work  of  the  church  might  be  greatly  facilitated  if 
its  organization  were  made  a  little  more  thorough  in  its 
working.  The  result  was  the  synod  held  at  the  town  of 
Saybrook  in  May,  1708,  which  adopted  the  famous  consti- 
tution known  as  the  Saybrook  Platform. 

This  constitution  provided  that  "  the  particular  pastors  and 
churches,  within  the  respective  counties  in  this  government," 
should  "be  one  consociation,  or  more  if  they  should  judge 

meet,  for  mutual  affording  to  each  other  such  as- 
Saybrook       sistance  as  may  be  requisite,   upon   all  occasions 

ecclesiastical."      Hitherto    ecclesiastical    authority 
had  been  exercised  by  councils  formed  by  voluntary  election 


THE    GREAT   AWAKENING  197 

by  individuals  or  by  single  churches.  Such  authority  was 
henceforth  to  be  vested  in  permanent  councils  appointed  by 
the  consociation  of  churches.  Disobedience  to  the  decree 
of  one  of  these  permanent  councils  was  punished  by  excom- 
munication of  the  too  independent  pastor  or  church.  The 
council  of  one  consociation  might  invite  councils  from  one 
or  more  neighbouring  consociations  to  take  part  in  its  pro- 
ceedings, and  it  was  further  provided  that  a  general  associa- 
tion consisting  of  representatives  from  all  the  churches  in 
the  Commonwealth  should  be  held  every  year  at  the  time 
of  the  election  of  governor  and  legislature. 

This  platform  was  adopted  by  the  General  Court  of  Con- 
necticut, with  the  proviso  that  a  church  which  conducted 
itself  discreetly  and  soberly  might  be  allowed  to  carry  on 
worship  and  exercise  discipline  according  to  its  own  con- 
science, even  though  it  should  not  be  able  to  enter  into  the 
consociation  of  churches.  This  was  a  prudent  and  liberal 
provision,  and  was  intended  to  prevent  injustice  and  persecu- 
tion. The  general  effect  of  the  platform  was  to  assimilate 
Congregationalism  in  Connecticut  to  Presbyterianism,  and 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  was  an  important  change 
in  the  direction  of  conservatism.  Manifestly,  the  power  of 
any  ecclesiastical  organization  in  checking  individual  The  p]at 
variations  depends  upon  the  coercive  power  which   f°rm  tends 

to  assimi- 

the  whole  can  bring  to  bear  upon  any  one  of  its   lateCongre- 

.  ,  gationalism 

parts.  Manifestly,  the  conservative  power  or  a  toPresby- 
Mussulman  caliph,  being  absolutely  unchecked,  was 
greater  than  that  of  the  mediaeval  Pope,  who  might  be  limited 
by  a  council  or  thwarted  by  an  emperor.  Still  less  coercive 
power  could  be  exercised  by  a  sovereign  head  of  a  church, 
like  Elizabeth  or  Charles  II.  Still  less  could  be  exercised  by 
a  Presbyterian  synod,  and  from  this  again  down  to  an  inde- 
pendent congregation  the  step  in  diminution  of  coercive 
power  was  a  long  one.  It  is  therefore  interesting  and  sig- 
nificant that  just  at  the  moment  when  Massachusetts  by  the 


198  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

founding  of  Brattle  Church  took  a  long  step  in  the  direc- 
tion of  further  independency,  Connecticut  should 

Massachu-  x  J 

setts  and       have  taken  a  decided  conservative  step  in  the  di- 

Connecticut  .  . 

change  rection  of  Presbytenamsm.     I  he  effect  exerted  by 

pa<  the  mere  possession   of  coercive  power  does  not 

always  need  to  be  exhibited  by  overt  actions ;  it  is  a  subtle 
effect  consisting  largely  in  the  colouring  which  it  gives  to 
that  indefinable  thing  known  as  public  opinion,  but  I  suspect 
that  in  the  circumstances  here  narrated  we  have  at  least  a 
partial  explanation  of  the  fact  that  a  century  later,  when  so 
many  churches  in  Massachusetts  adopted  Unitarian  theology 
while  still  remaining  Congregational  churches,  on  the  other 
hand,  in  Connecticut  a  step  so  extreme  was  very  difficult  to 
take,  and  that  while  there  were  churches  in  which  dissent 
from  time-honoured  doctrines  was  rife,  nevertheless  it  was 
seldom  that  Unitarian  doctrines  were  avowed. 

One  effect  of  the  Say  brook  Platform  was  to  make  it  easy 
in  later  times  for  the  Congregational  churches  in  Connecti- 
cut to  fraternize  with  the  Presbyterian  churches.  To  such 
an  extent  has  this  fraternization  been  carried  in  modern 
times,  that  persons  in  Connecticut  and  states  to  the  west  of 
it  are  very  apt  to  use  the  word  "  Presbyterian  "  in  a  loose 
sense  when  they  really  mean  "Congregational,"  —  a  use  of 
language  which  would  have  made  the  hair  of  one  of  Crom- 
well's Ironsides  stand  on  end  with  horror. 

The  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  Connecti- 
cut was  also  memorable  for  the  founding  of  Yale  College. 
The  journey  from  the  Connecticut  towns  to  Cam- 

The  found-  J  J 

ing  of  Yale  bridge  was  much  longer  than  it  is  now,  and  it  was 
felt  that  there  ought  to  be  a  college  nearer  home. 
The  movement  was  begun  by  a  meeting  at  Branford  of  ten 
ministers,  nine  of  whom  were  graduates  of  Harvard.  These 
gentlemen  contributed  from  their  libraries  about  forty  gigan- 
tic folios  for  the  founding  of  a  college  library.  Other  gifts 
began  to  come  in,  and  an  act  of  incorporation  in  1 70 1  created 


THE    GREAT   AWAKENING 


199 


a  body  of  trustees,  all  of  whom  were  to  be  clergymen  and  not 
less  than  forty  years  of  age.  The  college  was  at  first  situ- 
ated in  Saybrook,  though  in  the  first  years  the  classes  were 
taught  at  Killingworth,  where  the  first  rector  of  the  college, 


ELIHU    YALE 


Abraham  Pierson,  was  pastor.  At  length  the  college  was 
settled  in  New  Haven  in  17 16,  and  two  years  later  it  received 
the  name  of  Yale  College  in  recognition  of  a  donation  from 
Elihu  Yale,  a  merchant  of  London,  whose  father  had  been 
one  of  the  original  settlers  of  New  Haven.  Now  this  found- 
ing of  Yale  College  exerted  a  conservative  effect  upon  the 


200  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

mind  of  Connecticut.  While  on  the  one  hand  it  brought  a 
classical  education  within  the  reach  of  many  persons  who 
would  not  have  gone  to  Cambridge  to  get  it,  on  the 
vative  ten-  other  hand  it  tended  to  cut  off  the  clergy  of  Con- 
Connecticut  necticut  from  the  liberalizing  influences  which  were 
byinth°erce<  so  plainly  beginning  to  be  powerful  at  Harvard. 
college  From  the  outset  something  like  a  segregation  be- 

gan. Many  persons  in  Massachusetts  who  were  disinclined 
to  the  liberalism  of  Leverett  and  the  Brattles  transferred  their 
affections  to  Yale  College,  making  gifts  to  it  and  sending 
their  sons  there,  and  in  this  way  the  conservatism  of  the  uni- 
versity that  was  controlled  entirely  by  ministers  holding 
under  the  Saybrook  Platform  was  increased.  When  to  all 
these  circumstances  we  add  that  the  royal  governor  in  Boston, 
although  an  abiding  cause  of  irritation,  nevertheless  kept 
bringing  in  ideas  and  fashions  from  Europe,  we  can  see  how 
the  stormier  life  of  Massachusetts  Bay  was  more  favourable 
to  change  than  the  delicious  quiet  of  the  land  of  steady 
habits. 

The  general  state  of  the  church  in  New  England  in  the 
first  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  one  which  may 
be  best  characterized  by  saying  that  spirituality  was  at  a  low 
ebb.  Pretty  much  the  same  might  be  said  of  the  church  in 
England,  and  if  we  were  to  extend  the  observation  to  France, 
we  should  have  to  make  it   still  more  emphatic. 

State  of  r 

religion         The  causes  of  this  state  of  things  were  complicated. 

early  in  the        .  ...  .  .  .  r 

eighteenth  Among  other  things,  the  scientific  reaction  against 
supernaturalism,  which  was  so  rapidly  destroying 
the  belief  in  witchcraft,  was  leading  the  great  mass  of  super- 
ficial thinkers  in  the  direction  of  materialism.  In  France 
the  church  had  discredited  itself  through  an  alliance  with 
despotism,  until  nearly  all  the  best  minds  had  turned  against 
it.  In  England  the  epoch  of  intense  mental  exaltation  which 
characterized  the  seventeenth  century  had  provoked  a  reac- 
tion in  which  worldly-mindedness  prevailed  and  sanctity  was 


X 


v*  Y*  s 


7TT  * 


^in  i\ 


C       >         nCN>  nO  _£s.C         <<    I  <H 

*X      )&      *V         N*      *vKF*fcfo 


THE    GREAT   AWAKENING  201 

derided.  There  can  be  little  doubt,  I  think,  that  the  politi- 
cal uses  to  which  religion  had  been  put  during  the  terrible 
struggle  of  the  counter-reformation  had  done  much  to  loosen 
its  spiritual  hold  upon  men's  minds.  Something  may  be  said, 
too,  of  the  rapidly  expanding  effects  of  commerce.      . 

1        J         x  .  Rise  of 

Men's  interests  were   multiplying   so    that   some-   commercial 
thing  must  suffer  for  a  time,  and  religion,  for  the 
causes  already  mentioned,  was  the  weak  spot  in  the  social 
fabric. 

But  whatever  the  explanation  may  be,  the  fact  is  generally 
accepted  that  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  were 
a  period  of  coldness  in  religious  matters.  This  coldness  was 
quite  generally  perceived  and  lamented  by  clergymen  and 
laymen  throughout  New  England,  and  speculations  were 
rife  as  to  the  probable  cause  and  the  best  cure.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  among  other  things  the  Halfway  Covenant 
may  have  exerted  a  baneful  influence.  If  there  could  be 
anything  serious  and  solemn  in  life  it  would  seem  to  be  the 
ascertainment  of  the  state  of  mind  which  would  qualify  a 
person  for  participation  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  yet  the  Half- 
way Covenant  practically  admitted  to  this  sacrament  all  per- 
sons of  decorous  lives  who  had  been  baptized  in  infancy. 
One  effect  of  this  was  to  endow  infant  baptism  with  the 
character  of  a  magical  ceremony  and  to  make  of  the 
communion  a  mere  lifeless  form.  At  first,  indeed,  the  sup- 
porters of  the  Halfway  Covenant  simply  allowed  baptized 
members  of  the  congregation  to  vote  and  hold  «stoddard_ 
office,  without  allowing  them  to  participate  in  the  eanism" 
communion  until  they  could  make  some  statement  of  their 
internal  experience  which  proved  them  qualified  for  such 
participation  ;  but  a  crisis  seemed  to  be  reached  when  the 
Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard  of  Northampton  admitted  people  to 
communion  without  any  other  credentials  than  proof  of  bap- 
tism in  infancy.1 

1  [On  this  outgrowth  of  the  Halfway  Covenant,  see  Walker,  Hist. 


202  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

This  work  was  to  be  undone  and  this  whole  state  of  things 
put  an  end  to  by  the  writings  and  the  preaching  of  Solomon 
Stoddard's  grandson,  a  man  who  was  one  of  the  wonders  of 
the  world,  probably  the  greatest  intelligence  that  the  west- 
Tonathan  ern  hemisphere  has  yet  seen.  Jonathan  Edwards 
Edwards  was  born  at  East  Windsor,  Conn.,  in  1703,  inherit- 
ing extraordinary  abilities  both  from  his  father,  Rev.  Timo- 
thy Edwards,  and  from  his  mother,  Esther  Stoddard.  From 
early  childhood  Edwards  was  a  personage  manifestly  set 
apart  for  some  high  calling.  His  "  Notes  on  Nature,"  writ- 
ten at  the  age  of  sixteen,  show  a  precocity  as  remarkable  as 
that  of  Pascal ;  his  Treatise  on  the  Will  and  other  works  of 
his  maturity  show  a  metaphysical  power  comparable  with 
that  of  Kant  or  Berkeley  ;  while  in  many  of  his  speculations 
his  mind  moves  through  the  loftiest  regions  of  thought  with 
a  sustained  strength  of  flight  that  comes  near  reminding  one 
of  the  mighty  Spinoza.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  more 
one  considers  Edwards,  the  more  colossal  and  astonishing  he 
seems.  Among  writers  of  Christian  theology  his  place  is  by 
the  side  of  Augustine,  Aquinas,  and  Calvin.  At  the  same 
time  there  was  more  in  Edwards  than  sheer  power  of  intel- 
lect. His  character  was  as  great  as  his  genius.  The  highest 
attributes  of  manliness  were  united  in  him.  He  was  a  man 
of  deep  affection,  abounding  in  sympathy,  so  that  without 
resorting  to  the  ordinary  devices  of  rhetoric  he  became  a 
preacher  of  the  first  order.     Now  in  the  mind  of 

Edwards's  . 

vein  of  Jonathan  Edwards  there  was  a  vein  of  mysticism 

as  unmistakable  as  that  in  the  mind  of  Wrilliam 
Penn.  Such  mysticism  may  be  found  in  minds  of  medium 
capacity,  but  in  minds  of  the  highest  type  I  believe  it  is 
rarely  absent.  A  mind  which  has  plunged  deeply  into  the 
secrets  of  nature  without  exhibiting  such  a  vein  of  mysti- 

of  the  Congregational  Churches  in  the  U.  S.,  pp.  180-182.  Stoddard 
advocated  this  practice  as  early  as  1679.  It  was  adopted  in  his  church 
in  1706.] 


J7<?^1^0£L*-<*^    LdU^Cc^&p 


THE    GREAT   AWAKENING  203 

cism  is,  I  believe,  a  mind  sterilized  and  cut  off  in  one 
direction  from  access  to  the  truth.  Along  with  Edwards's 
abstruse  reasoning  there  was  a  spiritual  consciousness  as 
deep  as  that  of  Spinoza  or  Novalis.  From  his  mystic  point 
of  view,  the  change  whereby  a  worldly,  unregenerate  man  or 
woman  became  fitted  for  divine  life  was  a  conversion  of  the 
soul,  an  alteration  of  its  innermost  purposes,  a  change  of 
heart  from  evil  to  goodness.  Perhaps  this  way  of  conceiv- 
ing: the  case  was  not  new  with  Edwards.     From 

to  .  His  em- 

the  earliest  ages  of  Christianity  a  turning  of  the  phasis  on 
soul  from  the  things  of  this  world  to  Christ  has 
been  the  essential,  but  the  importance  of  what  has  since 
come  to  be  known  as  conversion,  or  change  of  heart,  assumed 
dimensions  never  known  before.  As  Calvinism  enhanced 
the  value  of  the  individual  soul  by  representing  it  as  the  sub- 
ject of  a  mighty  struggle  between  the  powers  of  heaven  and 
those  of  hell,  so  Edwards,  while  setting  forth  this  notion  in 
all  its  grimness,  gave  it  a  touch  of  infinite  tragedy  and 
pathos  through  the  power  with  which  he  conceived  the  situ- 
ation of  the  soul  whose  salvation  trembled  in  the  balance. 
The  distinction  between  the  converted  and  the  unconverted 
became  in  his  hands  more  vitally  important  than  the  older 
distinction  between  the  elect  and  the  non-elect.  There  was 
great  difficulty  in  working  the  two  distinctions  together,  and 
a  large  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  consumed  by 
New  England  theologians  in  grappling  with  this  difficulty. 
It  was  due  to  Edwards  that  the  prime  question  with  every 
anxious  mind  was  not  so  much,  Am  I  one  of  the  elect  ?  as 
this  other  question,  Have  I  surrendered  my  heart  to  Christ  ? 
It  is  obvious  that  this  new  point  of  view  in  itself,  and  even 
more  in  the  mood  in  which  it  was  set  forth,  soon  worked  a 
vivifying  change  in  the  religious  consciousness  of  New  Eng- 
land. The  effect  was  presently  shown  in  those 
so-called  revivals  which  are  in  the  strict  sense  a 
product  of  the  New  England  mind.     Phenomena  of  religious 


204  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

excitement,  sometimes  reaching  epidemic  proportions,  are  of 
course  to  be  found  among  heathen  savages,  but  religious 
emotion  of  an  intense  sort,  coupled  with  a  high  general  level 
of  education,  such  as  we  see  it  in  modern  revivals,  is  some- 
thing that  had  its  beginnings  in  New  England.  The  essen- 
tial features  of  a  revival  are  the  aroused  consciousness  of 
sin,  overwhelming  fears  associated  therewith,  and  a  condition 
of  doubt  as  to  whether  one  has  really  satisfied  the  condi- 
tions of  salvation.  One  can  see  that  when  such  a  state  of 
things  has  been  generally  reached  in  a  community,  there  is 
no  longer  any  room  for  such  mechanical  devices  as  the  Half- 
way Covenant.  Before  such  a  state  of  things  can  be  reached, 
the  ecclesiastical  atmosphere  must  be  spiritualized.  To  this 
end  the  whole  tenor  of  Edwards's  preaching  contributed,  for 
he  insisted,  with  as  much  emphasis  as  William  Penn,  upon  the 
insignificance  of  the  form  as  compared  with  the  spirit. 

Sometimes  the  religious  revival  seemed  a  mere  survival  of 
The  Revi-  barbaric  superstition,  —  as  when  the  earthquake 
vaiof  1734  0f  !  727  brought  people  in  crowds  into  the  Boston 
churches.  But  in  1734  there  began  at  Northampton,  where 
Edwards,  who  had  succeeded  his  grandfather,  had  been 
preaching  for  eight  years,  a  revival  of  a  much  higher  kind. 
This  wave  of  religious  excitement  spread  through  the  whole 
Connecticut  valley  and  lasted  for  six  months.  It  attracted 
some  notice  in  England,  and  presently  George  Whitefield 
accepted  an  invitation  from  Dr.  Benjamin  Colman  to  come 
George  to   New    England    and    preach.      Whitefield    was 

invited  fd  twenty-six  years  of  age,  and  had  just  been  ordained 
New  Eng-      as  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  England.    He  was  a 

land  ° 

man  of  mediocre  intelligence,  without  distinction 
either  as  a  scholar  or  as  a  thinker,  but  his  gifts  as  an  orator 
were  very  extraordinary.  In  1740  W7hitefield  preached  in 
various  parts  of  New  England,  sometimes  in  churches,  some- 
times in  the  open  air,  to  audiences  which  on  occasion  reached 
15,000  in  number.      He  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Northampton 


THE    GREAT    AWAKENING 


20: 


GEORGE    WHITEFIELD 


in  order  to  visit  the  preacher  of  the  late  revival  there,  and 
thought  he  had  never  seen  such  a  man  as  Edwards,  while  on 
the  other  hand,  under  the  influence  of  Whitefield's  musical 
voice,  Edwards  sat  weeping  during  the  entire  sermon. 

The  example  set  by  Whitefield  was  followed  after  his  de- 
parture by  a  Presbyterian  minister  from  New  Jersey  named 
Gilbert  Tennent.  This  preacher  came  to  Boston  and  spent 
some  three  months  in  the  neighborhood,  preaching  to  enor- 


206  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

mous  audiences  with  most  startling  effect.  Tennent  was 
followed  by  James  Davenport  of  Southold,  Long  Island,  a 
Gilbert  great-grandson  of  the  famous  Davenport  of  the  old 

Tennent  New  Haven  colony.  This  James  Davenport  was 
highly  esteemed  by  Whitefield  and  other  revivalist  preach- 
ers, but  his  ill-balanced  enthusiasm  led  him  to  very  strange 
lengths.  On  one  occasion  he  is  said  to  have  preached  a  ser- 
mon nearly  twenty-four  hours  in  length,  with  such  violence 
of  intonation  and  gesture  that  he  brought  on  a  brain  fever. 
He  was  constitutionally  intemperate  in  speech,  eccentric  in 
action,  and  inspired  by  that  peculiar  self-conceit  which  is  one 
of  the  marks  of  mental  derangement.  If  he  came  to  a  town 
Tames  where  little  excitement  was  manifested  on  the  sub- 

Davenport  ject  0f  religion  he  would  revile  the  ministers  of 
the  town,  accusing  them  of  being  unconverted,  blind  leaders 
of  the  blind,  and  he  warned  the  people  that  by  listening  to 
such  preaching  they  were  imperilling  their  souls.  At  Boston 
he  grew  so  abusive  that  the  ministers  held  a  conference  and 
decided  that  they  would  not  allow  him  the  use  of  their 
pulpits.  Nothing  daunted,  however,  this  Boanerges  hurled 
forth  his  thunderbolts  on  such  places  as  Copp's  Hill  and  Bos- 
ton Common,  where  he  spoke  his  mind  with  great  freedom 
to  thousands  of  listeners.  For  example,  in  one  of  his  prayers, 
he  said,  "  Good  Lord,  I  will  not  mince  the  matter  any  longer 
with  Thee,  for  Thou  knowest  that  I  know  that  most  of  the 
ministers  of  Boston  and  of  the  country  are  unconverted,  and 
are  leading  their  people  blindfold  to  hell."  For  these  words 
Davenport  was  indicted  for  slander,  but  was  acquitted  on  the 
ground  of  insanity. 

A  situation  had  now  arisen  in  some  respects  not  unlike 
Comparison  that  when  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  Antinomian 
Antlno-6  friends  had  been  preaching  in  Boston  a  century  ear- 
mians  ijer    Qne  0f  tjie  chief  objections  to  the  Antinomians 

was  that  they  professed  to  have  their  minds  illumined  by  a 
divine  light  which  enabled  them  to  see  truths  hidden  from 


A- Faithful 


NARRATIVE 


O  F     T  H  E 

Surprizing  Work  of  God 

I  N    T  H  E 

CONVERSION 

O  F 

Many  Hundred  Souls  in  Northampton^ 
and  the  Neighbouring  Towns  and 
Villages  of  Ncw-Hampjhire  in  New- 
England, 

In  a  LETTER  ro  the  Rev*.  Dr.  Benjamin 
C  o  I,  M  a  N  of  Boflon. 

Written   by   the  Rev*.  Mr.  Edward',  Minifler  of 
Northampton,    on  AW.  6.  1736. 

And  Published, 

With    a    Large    PREFACE, 

By  Dr.  Watts  and  Dr.  Guyse. 


LONDON: 

Printed  for  Jo  h  k  Osw  a  l  d,  at  the  Rofe  and  Crpwn,  ity 

c h i  Poultry,  near  Stjcis- Market.   M.dcc.xxxvu. 

Price  fliich'd  1  s.  Boundjn  Calf-Leather,   1  /.  6<£ 


TITLE    OF    EDWARDS'S    "A    FAITHFUL    NARRATIVE 


2o8  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

the  generality  of  Christians,  and  in  this  belief  they  confi- 
dently assailed  even  the  highest  of  the  clergy  as  creatures 
acting  under  a  covenant  of  works.  It  was  now  held  by  many 
clergymen  that  the  conduct  of  Tennent  and  Davenport  and 
other  followers  of  Whitefield  resembled  that  of  the  An- 
tinomians,  and  tended  to  introduce  dissensions  into  the 
churches.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  such  was  its  immedi- 
ate effect.  Emotional  extravagances  on  the  part  of  revival- 
ists were  so  marked  as  to  lead  many  persons  to  question 
whether,  in  view  of  this  and  of  the  intemperate  criticism 
that  had  been  indulged  in,  the  revival  had  not  really  been 
productive  of  more  harm  than  good.  Such  questions  were 
agitated  until  in  almost  every  church  there  came  to  be  a 
party  who  approved  of  the  revival  and  a  party  which  con- 
demned it.  Under  these  circumstances  it  is  not  strange  that 
the  power  of  the  revival  should  have  declined,  or  that  we 
should  find  the  Rev.  Thomas  Prince  writing  in  1744  that 
"  The  Sovereign  Spirit,  in  His  awakening  influence,  has 
seemed  these  two  last  years  in  a  gradual  and  awful  manner 
to  withdraw.  For  a  twelvemonth  I  have  rarely  heard  the  cry 
of  any  new  ones,  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  But  few 
are  now  added  to  our  churches,  and  the  heavenly  shower  in 
Boston  seems  to  be  over."  About  the  time  that  Prince 
white-  expressed  himself  so  despondingly  Whitefield  re- 
?urn't0rNew  turned  to  New  England,  but  he  was  not  so  much 
England  a  n0velty  as  before  and  made  less  sensation.  The 
Brattle  Church  showed  its  liberality  by  inviting  him,  an 
Episcopal  priest,  to  administer  its  Communion.  On  the 
other  hand,  President  Holyoke  and  the  Faculty  of  Harvard 
passed  a  resolution  condemning  his  itinerant  methods,  and 
the  clergymen  of  Cambridge  refused  to  allow  him  in  their 
pulpits  ;  so  that  his  preaching  was  done  to  a  large  audience 
on  Cambridge  Common. 

In  Massachusetts  the  opposition  to  the  revivalists  showed 
itself  only  in  such  protests  by  professors  and  clergymen,  but 


THE   GREAT   AWAKENING 


209 


THOMAS    PRINCE 


in  Connecticut  the  matter  went  further.  Whitefield,  Ten- 
nent,  and  Davenport  travelled  about  in  that  commonwealth, 
making  converts  by  hundreds,  and  Davenport,  at  least,  made 
no  scruple  of  attacking  the  settled  ministers.  These  pro- 
ceedings called  forth  interference  from  the  government.  At 
Stratford  Davenport  was  arrested  for  disturbing  Davenport 
the  peace  by  gathering  great  crowds  of  people,  Sk-^  f°r 
filling  their  heads  with  pernicious  doctrines,  and  dlsturbance 
inciting  them  to  a  noisy  and  disorderly  demeanour.  During 
their  examination  a  mob  of  their  converts  undertook  to  res- 


210      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

cue  them  from  the  sheriff's  custody,  and  in  order  to  quiet 
the  disturbance  it  proved  necessary  to  call  out  the  militia. 
For  revivalist  practices  similar  to  Davenport's  the  Rev. 
Benjamin  Pomeroy  was  turned  out  of  office  and  deprived  of 
his  salary. 

It  thus  appears  that  one  result  of  the  Great  Awakening 
was  to  stir  up  dissension  in  the  churches  between  the  more 


SIGNATURE    OF    PRESIDENT    HOLYOKE    AND    FELLOWS    OF    HARVARD    COLLEGE 

aristocratic  ministry  of  the  old  type  and  the  more  democratic 
preachers  like  Whitefield  and  his  friends.  Our  account  would 
be  far  from  complete  if  we  were  to  omit  the  conclusion  of 
the  story  at  Northampton,  the  home  of  Jonathan  Edwards, 
Last  days  of  from  whose  preaching  this  Great  Awakening  had 
Edwards  emanated.  We  have  seen  that  the  Edwards  doc- 
trine of  conversion  was  flatly  opposed  to  the  Halfway  Cove- 
nant to  which  Edwards's  grandfather  in  Northampton  had 
given  its  most  extreme  form.  In  1749,  after  Edwards  had 
been  settled  twenty-two  years  over  that  parish  and  regarded 
with  extreme  reverence  by  his  parishioners,  he  suddenly  lost 
favour  with  them  by  insisting  upon  more  rigorous  require- 
ments in  admitting  communicants  to  the  church.  This  gave 
rise  to  a  quarrel  of  such  bitterness  that  Edwards's  parish 


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212  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

not  only  dismissed  him,  but  obtained  a  vote  in  town  meeting 
to  the  effect  that  he  should  not  be  allowed  any  more  to  enter 
a  pulpit  in  that  town.  The  result  was  the  removal  of  Ed- 
wards to  Berkshire  for  missionary  work  among  the  Stock- 
bridge  Indians,  and  thence  after  six  years  to  the  presidency 
of  Princeton  College.  He  died  in  Princeton  at  the  early  age 
of  fifty-five. 

One  result  of  the  breaking  down  of  the  Halfway  Covenant 
was  to  discredit  infant  baptism,  so  that  the  majority  of  the 
revivalists  of  the  more  democratic  type  went  over  to  the 
Baptist  church  and  greatly  swelled  its  numbers  in  New  Eng- 
land. With  regard  to  the  general  effect  of  the  Awakening, 
in  spite  of  the  extravagances  with  which  it  was  here  and 
there  attended,  it  certainly  did  much  to  heighten  and  deepen 
the  religious  life  in  New  England.  As  compared  with  the 
old  days  of  the  Halfway  Covenant,  the  new  doctrine  of  con- 
version was  like  an  uplifting  of  the  soul  to  better  things. 
The  religious  thought  of  the  seventeeth  century  was  in  dan- 
ger of  losing  its  life  among  dry  logical  formulas.  It  needed 
to  be  touched  with  emotion,  and  that  was  what  the  Great 
,     Awakening  accomplished.      It  may  be  said  to  have 

Results  of  &  F  J 

the  Awak-  exerted  a  stimulating  influence  similar  to  that  which 
attended  the  preaching  of  the  Wesleys  in  England, 
and  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  John  Wesley  in  the  early 
part  of  his  career  received  a  powerful  stimulus  from  news  which 
reached  him  from  New  England.  If  we  were  able  thoroughly 
to  sift  all  relevant  facts  I  think  we  should  conclude  that  in 
producing  the  tenderness  of  soul  in  which  the  nineteenth 
century  so  far  surpassed  the  eighteenth,  a  considerable  share 
must  be  assigned  to  the  preaching  and  self-searchings,  the 
prayers  and  tears,  the  jubilation  and  praise,  of  the  Great 
Awakening. 


CHAPTER  VII 

NORRIDGEWOCK    AND    LOUISBURG 

When  Mr.  Seward,  about  forty  years  ago,  spoke  of  the 
"  irrepressible  conflict  "  between  slavery  and  freedom,  it  was 
generally  felt  that  he  had  invented  a  happy  and  telling  phrase. 
It  was  a  conflict  equally  irrepressible  that  was  carried  on  for 
seventy  years  between  France  and  England  for  the  posses- 
sion of  North  America.  It  was  the  strife  between  The  „  irre 
absolutism  and  individualism,  between  paternal  gov-  possible 
ernment  carried  to  the  last  extreme,  and  the  spon-   between 

•   •  i  t      i  France  and 

taneous  life  of  communities  that  governed  them-  England  in 
selves  in  town  meeting.  Alike  in  Europe  and  in 
America  each  party  was  aggressive  and  uncompromising. 
Particularly  in  America  the  proximity  of  the  Indians  made 
it  next  to  impossible  to  avoid  bloodshed  even  when  the  gov- 
ernments of  France  and  England  were  nominally  at  peace 
with  one  another.  There  is  no  better  illustration  of  this 
than  is  afforded  by  the  story  of  Norridgewock. 

The  treaty  of  Utrecht,  by  which  the  long  war  of  the  Span- 
ish succession  was  brought  to  an  end  in  17 1 3 ,  transferred 
the   province   of  Acadia   from   France  to  England.     After 
many  changes  of  owner  ship.*. backward  and  forward  it   was 
decided  that  Acadia  was  finally  to  become  English.    Acadia 
But  what  was  Acadia  ?     As  customarily  applied,    p"^  to 
the  name  included  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,    Ensland 
and  a  part  of  Maine  ;  and  the  English  maintained  that  all 
this   territory   was   ceded  to  them  by   the   treaty  ;  but   the 
French,  on  the  other  hand,  maintained   that  they  had  only 
given  away  Nova  Scotia,  and  woe  to  the  Englishman  who 


214  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

should  dare  to  meddle  with  the  rest !  It  was  intended  that 
this  question  should  be  settled  by  a  special  commission,  but 
the  question  was  such  a  ticklish  one  that  neither  country 
was  in  haste  to  appoint  a  commission,  and  so  things  remained 
until  the  matter  was  settled  forever  by  the  mighty  Seven 
Years'  War. 

According  to  the  French  view,  the  boundary  between  their 
territory  and  that  of  New  England  was  the  river  Kennebec. 
This  line  they  felt  it  important  to  defend  for  two  reasons. 
The  French  First,  the  New  England  settlements  were  rapidly 
nrnTts0ofhe  extending  northeastwardly  along  the  coast ;  sec- 
Acadia  ondly,  the  sources  of  the  Kennebec  were  connected 
by  an  intricate  network  of  streams,  marshes,  and  lakelets 
with  those  of  the  Chaudiere,  which  falls  into  the  St.  Law- 
rence just  opposite  Quebec.  It  was  an  excessively  difficult 
route  by  which  to  invade  Canada,  as  Benedict  Arnold  found 
half  a  century  later.  Nevertheless,  it  was  a  possible  route 
which  the  French  felt  it  necessary  to  bar.  In  this  they 
proceeded  according  to  their  usual  manner  by  establishing 
a  hold  upon  their  Algonquin  friends  along  the  Kennebec 
River. 

These  Algonquins  were  commonly  known  as  Abenakis,  or 
Eastern  Men.  Their  grade  of  culture  was  quite  similar  to 
that  of  the  tribes  in  Massachusetts  and  considerably  more 
advanced  than  that  of  the  Micmacs  of  Nova  Scotia.  They 
were  divided  into  numerous  tribes  and  subtribes,  the  names 
of  which,  such  as  Kennebec,  Penobscot,  etc.,  have  in  many 
cases  remained  as  local  names  upon  the  map,  while  the 
The  Abe-  most  important  of  these  Abenaki  tribes  was  that 
naki  tribes  0f  tf\Q  Norridgewocks,  inasmuch  as  their  position 
guarded  the  approaches  to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Ken- 
nebec. The  stockaded  Norridgewock  village  was  situated 
close  by  the  river,  about  seventy-five  miles  from  its  mouth, 
and  a  journey  to  it  from  Portsmouth  or  Boston  seemed  like 
plunging  into  the  innermost  depths  of  the  wilderness.    These 


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NORRIDGEWOCK   AND    LOUISBURG  215 

Indians  were  no  longer  heathen,  for  they  had  all  been  con- 
verted and  baptized  by  the  devoted  efforts  of  Father  Sebas- 
tian Rale.  This  interesting  man  was  a  native  of  that  part 
of  Burgundy  known  as  Franche-Comte,  and  when  thirty-two 
years  of  age  came  over  to  Canada  with  Frontenac  in  1689. 
After  a  more  or  less  migratory  service  extending  as  far  west 
as  the  Illinois  River,  Father  Rale  took  charge  of  Sebastian 
the  Norridgewock  Indians  in  1693,  and  remained  Rale 
with  them  until  his  death.  His  attainments  in  American 
languages  were  very  considerable,  for  he  possessed  a  fluent 
knowledge  of  at  least  three  dialects  of  Algonquin,  besides  the 
Huron  dialect  of  Iroquois,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  Indian 
character  was  as  thorough  as  his  proficiency  in  their  tongue. 
The  Norridgewock  village  was  a  square  enclosure  160  feet 
on  each  side,  walled  in  with  a  palisade  of  stout  logs  about 
nine  or  ten  feet  in  height.  In  the  middle  of  each  side  was 
a  gate,  and  the  two  streets  connecting  the  gates  crossed 
each  other  in  an  open  square  at  the  centre.  Within  the  en- 
closure were  twenty-six  wigwams,  and  outside  of  it  at  a  dis- 
tance of  a  few  yards  stood  the  chapel.  Altogether  it  was  a 
much  ruder  village  than  the  Iroquois  Hochelaga  which  Car- 
tier  had  visited  nearly  two  centuries  before,  and  very  much 
ruder  than  the  Onondaga  village  attacked  by  Champlain  in 
161 5.  Besides  being  the  spiritual  father  of  this  little  com- 
munity, Father  Rale  was  of  necessity  a  iack-of-all- 

,  TT  ,  r  1     TheNor- 

trades.  He  must  be  a  bit  of  a  carpenter,  and  tidgewock 
more  or  less  of  a  gardener,  with  a  pennyweight  of 
medicine  to  an  intolerable  deal  of  theology,  and  unlimited 
devotion  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  his  flock.  To  these  duties 
he  added  those  of  linguist  and  diplomat ;  for  his  leisure 
hours  were  whiled  away  in  making  a  vocabulary  of  the  Abe- 
naki tongue,  while  his  own  talent  of  speech  was  put  to  dili- 
gent use  in  instructing  all  the  tribes  of  that  region  how  to 
comport  themselves  in  the  presence  of  the  much  hated  Eng- 
lish. 


216  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

At  the  time  of  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  the  country  between 
the  Piscataqua  and  the  Kennebec  had  been  the  scene  of  atro- 
cious warfare  for  nearly  forty  years.  First  there  was  King 
Philip's  War  in  which  the  French  had  no  part,  and  then  there 
were  the  two  great  wars  between  France  and  England  from 
1689  to  1697,  and  from  1702  to  17 13.  The  result  was  that 
this   border   country   had   almost   relapsed   into   a 

The  country  J  r 

between  the  desert.  But  after  171 3  a  new  wave  of  settlement 
andCtheqU      advanced  northeasterly,   old  villages   were   rebuilt 

and  new  ones  founded,  and  in  all  directions  might 
be  seen  clearings  in  the  forest,  where  the  smoke  curled  up 
from  the  log  cabins  of  English  pioneers.  Now  this  advance 
of  the  white  frontier  incensed  and  alarmed  the  Indians,  as 
it  was  natural  that  it  should.  They  maintained  that  the 
English  were  encroaching  upon  their  lands.  The  English  re- 
torted that  these  lands  were  their  own,  inasmuch  as  they  had 
formerly  been  bought  from  Indian  sachems,  and  prices  had 
been  paid  for  them  which  the  Indians  had  deemed  liberal  and 
satisfactory.  But  the  red  man's  notions  of  ownership  and 
transfer  of  real  estate  were  in  a  hopelessly  different  stage  of 
evolution  from  those  of  the  white  man.     To  an  Indian,  the 

selling:  of  a  territory  meant  little  more  than  grant- 

The  Indian  &        .      .  J  .  & 

view  of  sell-  ing  permission  to  catch  fish  and  game  upon  it,  or  to 
pass  through  it  unhindered  for  whatever  purpose. 
The  Indian  had  not  arrived  at  the  point  where  the  sale  of  an 
estate  conveys  to  the  vendee  the  right  to  exclude  the  vendor ; 
but  his  mind  was  open  to  a  suggestion  of  Father  Rale,  that 
no  sale  of  land  by  a  sachem  could  be  other  than  void  because 
the  land  was  the  property  of  the  clan,  and  must  be  kept  in 
trust  for  the  children  born  to  the  clan.  This  was  exactly  in 
accordance  with  Indian  ways  of  thinking,  and  it  is  not  strange 
that  Father  Rale's  doctrine  suited  the  red  men's  temper  better 
than  the  English  notion  that  after  once  buying  the  land  they 
had  a  right  to  fence  the  Indian  out.  As  the  English  farm- 
houses came  nearer  and  an  occasional  blockhouse  was  erected, 


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NORRIDGEWOCK    AND    LOUISBURG  217 

the  disgust  of  the  Abenakis  increased  beyond  all  bounds,  but 
they  entertained  a  wholesome  dread  of  attacking  the  English 
without  assistance  from  the  French,  and  this  was  difficult  to 
obtain  in  time  of  peace. 

While  the  French,  however,  prudently  refrained  from  gross 
violations  of  international  law,  they  were  nevertheless  quite 
willing:  to  incite  the  Indians  to  attack  the  English. 

fo      .  fo  The  Indians 

Vaudreuil,  the  governor  of  Canada,  expressly  de-   and  the 

.  ,     ,  .  .         .  French 

clared  that  it  was  convenient  to  maintain  a  secret 
alliance  with  the  Indians,  since  the  latter  might  inflict  much 
damage  upon  the  English,  while  the  French  could  disclaim 
all  responsibility  for  their  acts. 

In  17 17,  when  Colonel  Shute  was  royal  governor  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, a  conference   was  held  on  Arrowsick    „    . 

Conference 

Island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec  River.    There    between 

Governor 

the  Indians  showed  themselves  so  eager  for  peace    shute  and 
that  even  the  insults  of  Governor  Shute,  who  was 
an  arrogant  person  utterly  destitute  of  tact,  failed  to  produce 

an  outbreak.  A 
Puritan  minister 
from  Medfield 
by  the  name  of 
Joseph  Baxter  was  left  among  the  Indians  to  counteract  by 
his  preaching  the  influence  of  Father  Rale;  and  Baxterand 
the  twain  indulged  in  a  Latin  correspondence,  in  Rale 
which  the  writers  not  only  attacked  each  other's  politics  and 
theology,  but  made  game  of  each  other's  Latin  style,  —  a 
kind  of  fierce  banter  in  which  the  Puritan  came  off  second 
best.  This  contest  over  the  Kennebec  River  was  typical  of 
the  whole  struggle  between  the  French  and  the  English.  On 
the  one  hand,  there  was  the  steadily  advancing  front  of  the 
self-governing  and  greatly  thriving  agricultural  community  ; 
on  the  other  hand,  there  was  the  little  group  of  French 
noblemen  and  priests  governing  a  mere  handful  of  settlers, 
and  striving  to  keep  back  the  advancing  English  by  means  of 


218  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

diplomatic  control  over  barbarous  Indians.  It  was  a  struggle 
which  could  really  have  but  one  issue.  It  was  a  struggle, 
moreover,  that  was  conducted  without  pity  or  mercy,  with 
scarcely  a  pretence  of  regard  for  the  amenities  of  civilized 
warfare.  Neither  side  was  particularly  scrupulous,  while 
from  that  day  to  this  each  side  has  kept  up  a  terrible  outcry 
against  the  other  for  doing  the  very  same  thing  which  it  did 
itself.  From  that  day  to  this  English  writers  have  held  up 
their  hands  in  holy  horror  at  the  atrocious  conduct  of  the 
French  in  sending  savages  to  burn  villages  and  massacre  wo- 
men and  children  on  the  English  border.  Yet  was  it  not  an 
English  governor  of  New  York  who  in  1689  launched  the 
Iroquois  thunderbolt  against  Canada,  one  of  the  most  fright- 
ful Indian  incursions  known  to  history  ?  It  does  not  appear 
that  the  conscience  of  either  Puritan  or  Catholic  was  in  the 
slightest  degree  disturbed  by  these  horrors.  Each  felt  sure 
that  he  was  fighting  the  Devil,  and  thought  it  quite  proper 
to  fight  him  with  his  own  weapons. 

On  the  Kennebec  frontier  the  problem  for  New  France 
The  Indians  was  to  prevent  English  villages  and  fortresses  from 
toSattack  advancing  in  that  direction,  and  the  most  obvious 
the  English  way  0f  accomplishing  the  result  was  to  instigate 
the  Indians  to  acts  of  warfare.  This  was  the  avowed  policy 
of  Vaudreuil,  and  it  was  carried  out  by  Father  Rale  to  the 
best  of  his  ability.  When  he  found  that  his  Norridgewock 
Indians  were  timid,  and  inclined  to  peace,  he  sent  to  Mont- 
real and  caused  parties  of  warriors  from  divers  tribes,  Otta- 
was,  Caughnawagas,  Hurons,  and  others,  to  be  sent  to  the 
Kennebec  River,  where  all  engaged  in  a  frantic  war  dance, 
and  quite  carried  away  the  Norridgewock s  in  a  frenzy  of 
bloodthirsty  enthusiasm.  This  was  in  1721.  Then  began 
the  sickening  tale  so  many  times  repeated  in  early  American 
Border  history,  —  the  tale  of  burning  homes,  of  youth  and 

warfare  beauty  struck  down  by  the  tomahawk,  and  of  cap- 
tives led  away  through  the  gloom  of  the  forest  to  meet  a  fiery 


NORRIDGEWOCK    AND    LOUISBURG  219 


death.  Thus,  in  turn,  the  English  government  at  Boston  was 
confronted  with  its  problem  :  how  to  put  a  stop  to  these 
horrors  without  bringing  on  a  new  war  with  France.  The 
practical  New  England  mind  saw  that  the  principal  hot-bed  of 
all  the  mischief  must  be  destroyed,  and  if  a  Frenchman  or 


220  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

two  should  come  to  grief  in  the  process,  it  was  his  own  fault 
for  playing  so  recklessly  with  fire.  It  was  easier,  however, 
for  Boston  to  know  what  ought  to  be  done  than  to  do  it ; 
for  there  was  the  irreconcilable  hostility  between  governor 
and  legislature  to  be  reckoned  with.  For  example,  when 
the  Norridgewocks  on  one  occasion  complained  to  Governor 
Shute  that  they  were  cheated  and  shamefully  used  by  irre- 
sponsible traders,  the  governor  undertook  to  set  up  certain 
trading  stations  on  the  frontier  which  should  be  controlled 
by  trustworthy  persons,  and  where  Indians  might  rest  as- 
sured of  fair  treatment,  but  when  he  proposed  this 

Conflicts  *       r 

between  the   plan  to  the  Assembly,  that  body  flatly  refused  to 

governor  .  r  .  „.       „ 

and  the  appropriate  any  money  for  the  purpose,  rinally, 
ssem  y  when  the  torches  were  lighted  and  the  shrieks  of 
the  victims  were  heard,  when  the  indignant  governor  was 
raising  his  arm  to  strike,  what  should  this  contumacious  As- 
sembly do  but  interpose  obstacle  after  obstacle  !  Not  only 
was  it  unwilling  to  entrust  the  governor  with  the  money  for 
obtaining  military  supplies,  but  it  even  insisted  upon  carrying 
on  the  war  through  committees  of  its  own.  Its  blundering 
conduct  was  not  unlike  that  of  the  Continental  Congress  in 
the  War  for  Independence.  After  a  while  the  course  of  the 
legislature  put  the  governor  into  such  a  rage  that  on  New 
Year's  day,  1723,  he  drove  down  to  the  water  side  and  em- 
barked in  a  ship  for  London  without  so  much  as  telling  any- 
body what  he  was  about  to  do.  He  left  it  for  the  town  to 
rub  its  eyes  in  astonishment  at  finding  its  governor  gone. 

His  place  was  filled  by  the  lieutenant-governor,  William 
Dummer,  who  fared  no  better  at  the  hands  of  the  Assembly, 
although  he  was  a  native  of  New  England.  The 
ceeded  by  Assembly  insisted  that  two  competent  but  unpopu- 
lar officers  should  be  removed  from  command,  and 
when  Dummer  refused,  the  many-headed  king  retorted  by 
refusing  to  grant  supplies  until  the  officers  in  question  should 
have  been  removed.     When  we  read  of  such  scenes  as  this, 


NORRIDGEWOCK   AND    LOUISBURG  221 

which  were  perpetually  recurring  during  the  seventy  years' 
struggle  with  France,  we  can  understand  why  the  British 
government  thought  it  necessary  to  raise  money  by  stamps 
in  order  to  protect  the  frontier  against  the  Indians. 

After  much  tribulation  an  expedition  under  Colonel  West- 
brook  sailed  for  the  Penobscot  River,  ascended  it  for  some 
distance  above  the  site  of  Bangor,  and  destroyed  a  mission- 
ary village  which  the  French  had  founded  there.     The  next 
year,  1724,  a  force  of  about  200  men  went  up  the    Expedi- 
Kennebec  River,  carried  the  Norridgewock  village   ag^nst  the 
by  storm,  and  slew  many  of  its  defenders,  while  the    lndians 
rest  were  scattered.     In  the  course  of  the  fight  Father  Rale 
was  shot  through  the  head.     Puritan  writers  have  sought  to 
stigmatize  this  interesting  man  as  a  murderer,  while  Catho- 
lics have  praised  him  as 
a  martyr.     In  the  impar- 
tial light   of   history,  he 
was  neither  the  one  nor 
the  other.     He  was  true  to  his  own  sense  of  duty,  and  the 
worst  that  can  be  said  about  him  is  that  he  was  not  excep- 
tionally scrupulous  in  his  choice   of  political  and 
military  means  ;   while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  title   of  Father 
of  "martyr"  seems  hardly  to  belong  to  a  man  who 
was  killed  in  the  ordinary  course  of  battle,  not  because  of 
his  religious  faith,  but  because  he  was  fighting  in  the  service 
of  France.1 

The  fighting  thus  begun  continued  for  nearly  four  years, 
and  in  the   course  of  it  the   Norridgewock   tribe    Extermina- 
was  practically  exterminated.     The  destruction  of   bridge-6 
that  mission  was  a  serious  blow  to  the  French  hold    wock  tnbe 
upon  the  Maine  frontier,  and  they  never  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing good  the  loss. 

1  [On  the  manner  of  Rale's  death,  see  Parkman,  Half  Century  of 
Conflict,  i.  237-239;  and  on  the  Norridgewock  troubles  as  a  whole,  the 
same,  pp.  205-240.] 


&Jyj£0wi 


222  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

Our  forefathers  of  that  time  had  come  to  regard  Indians 
very  much  in  the  light  of  wolves  or  panthers,  to  be  hunted 
and  slain  wherever  found.  Parties  of  yeomanry  were  en- 
listed for  the  purpose  of  penetrating  into  the  wilderness  and 
finding  the  enemy  in  his  lair.  The  regular  wages  paid  by 
the  Commonwealth  for  such  service  were  half  a  crown  a 
day,  paid  in  a  currency  so  depreciated  that  the  half-crown 
amounted  to  about  twenty-five  cents  of  our  money ;  but,  in 
addition,  there  was  a  liberal  bounty  of  a  hundred  pounds  for 
each  Indian  scalp.  Even  in  that  detestable  rag  money  a 
hundred  pounds  was  worth  securing.  Among  the  leaders  in 
this  rough  service  was  Captain  John  Lovewell  of  Dunstable 
on  the  Merrimac  River,  a  son  of  one  of  Cromwell's  soldiers. 
In  January,  1725,  he  earned  his  first  hundred  pounds  by 
bringing  a  scalp  from  a  remote  point  among  the  White  Moun- 
tains. It  was  customary  for  the  Massachusetts  rangers  to 
Ca  tain  patrol  those  wild  stretches  of  forest  through  which 
Lovewell  Algonquins  from  Canada  used  to  come  on  their 
murderous  raids.  Toward  the  end  of  February,  1725,  Love- 
well's  party  were  passing  the  shores  of  a  large  pond  in  what 
is  now  the  township  of  Fryeburg  in  Maine,  just  on  the  bor- 
der of  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  about  sixty 
miles  north  of  Dover. 
That  sheet  of  water  is 
still  known  as  Lovewell's  Pond.  Near  its  shore  his  party 
suddenly  came  upon  ten  Indians  sleeping  around  a  fire,  and 
immediately  killed  them  all,  for  which  they  received  a  thou- 
sand pounds  from  the  treasurer  at  Boston.  The  Indians  who 
were  killed  were  on  their  way  to  join  an  expedition  for  mas- 
sacre in  the  frontier  villages,  so  that  the  bounty  would  seem 
to  have  been  well  bestowed.  A  few  weeks  later  Lovewell 
once  more  tried  his  fortune  at  the  head  of  forty-six  men,  but 
as  they  approached  the  pond  which  had  witnessed  their  winter 
performance,  one  or  two  of  their  number  fell  sick,  so  that  it 


\Lovewell  Lamented. 


SERMON 

Occafiond  by  the  Fall 

Of  the    Braye 

Capt.  John  Love  well 

And  Several  of  his 

Valiant  COMPANY, 

In  the  iaYe 

Heroic  Action 

PronouncM  at  Bradford^  May.  16  1725 

By  Thomas  Symms,  V.D.M 

Ift.  3.  35.  Thy   Mpn  Ml  faith   tht  ,W<5,    and  th* 
M>ght}  m  the  War. 


BOSTON  m    AVw-fc/tf/W: 

Printed  by  B.  Green  Jnnr.  for   $,  Ger^f): 

near  the  Brick  Meeting  Houfe  mC°rnhiil: 

1725- 


TITLE    OF    SYMMES'S    "  LOVEWELL    LAMENTED" 


224  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

was  necessary  to  build  a  rude  fortification  and  leave  there  a 
guard  for  the  sick  ones.  This  reduced  the  number  to  thirty- 
four.  Early  on  a  bright  May  morning  these  men  fell  into  an 
Loveweii's  ambuscade  of  Pequawket  Indians,  and  they  kept  up 
fi§ht  a  desperate  fight  all  day  against  overwhelming  odds. 

Toward  sunset  the  Indians  gave  way  and  retired  from  the 
scene,  leaving  a  tremendous  harvest  of  scalps  for  the  victors. 
But  these  children  of  the  Ironsides  had  paid  a  high  price  for 
their  victory.  Captain  Lovewell  and  eleven  others  were  slain, 
being  rather  more  than  one  third  of  the  number.  One 
coward  had  run  away  and  told  so  dismal  a  story  to  the  sick 
men  and  their  guard  that  they  deemed  it  best  to  quit  their 
rude  fortification  and  travel  southward  with  all  possible  de- 
spatch. The  retreat  from  the  battlefield  began  at  midnight 
and  was  led  by  Ensign  Wyman.  One  of  the  party  was  the 
chaplain  of  the  expedition,  Rev.  Jonathan  Frye  of  Andover, 
a  youth  of  twenty-one,  recently  graduated  at  Harvard,  who 
was  as  zealous  an  Indian  killer  as  any  of  the  party.  He  had 
been  terribly  wounded  in  the  fight,  and  as  he  felt  his  strength 
giving  out  so  that  he  must  lie  down  upon  the  ground,  he 
The  death  begged  his  comrades  not  to  incur  danger  by  waiting 
of  Frye  with  njmj  but  to  keep  on  their  way,  and  he  said  to 
one  of  them,  "  Tell  my  father  that  I  expect  in  a  few  hours 
to  be  in  eternity,  and  am  not  afraid  to  die."  So  they  left 
him  alone  in  the  forest,  and  nothing  more  was  heard  of  him. 
The  survivors  of  this  expedition  were  rewarded  with  exten- 
sive grants  of  land  on  the  mountain  ridges  between  Lancaster 
and  the  Connecticut  River,  which  down  to  that  time  were 
a  howling  wilderness,  and  it  was  in  this  way  that  Petersham 
and  others  of  the  hill  towns  in  that  region  originated. 

For  half  a  century,  until  its  memory  was  obscured  by  the 
incidents  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Loveweii's  fight  was  a 
popular  theme  with  the  New  England  farmers.  Ballads  as 
long  as  "  Chevy  Chase  "  were  written  about  it,  and  perhaps 
a  few  verses  should  be  quoted  in  this  connection  :  — 


NORRIDGEWOCK   AND    LOUISBURG  225 

"  Then  spake  up  Captain  Lovewell,  when  first  the  fight  began, 
'  Fight  on,  my  valiant  heroes,  you  see  they  fall  like  rain  !  ' 
For,  as  we  are  informed,  the  Indians  were  so  thick, 
A  man  could  scarcely  fire  a  gun,  and  not  some  of  them  hit. 

Our  worthy  Captain  Lovewell  among  them  there  did  die , 

They  killed  Lieutenant  Robbins,  and  wounded  good  young  Frye, 

Who  was  our  English  chaplain  :  he  many  Indians  slew, 

And  some  of  them  he  scalped,  when  bullets  round  him  flew." 1 

As  for  this  worthy  young  chaplain,  he  was  mourned  by  the 
fair  Susanna  Rogers,  daughter  of  the  minister  at  Boxford, 
to  whom  he  was  betrothed.  She  afterward  wrote  a  long 
monody  which  thus  begins  :  — 

"  Assist,  ye  Muses,  help  my  quill 
While  floods  of  tears  does  down  distil, 
Not  from  mine  eyes  alone,  but  all 
That  hears  the  sad  and  doleful  fall 
Of  that  young  student,  Mr.  Frye, 
Who  in  his  blooming  youth  did  die." 

Such  incidents  as  the  destruction  of  Norridgewock  and 
Lovewell' s  fight  occurred  in  what  was  reckoned  as  an  inter- 
val of  peace  between  the  second  and  third  great  intercolonial 
wars. 

We  may  now  pass  over  twenty  years  and  make  some 
mention  of  the  most  important  event  that  marked  in  Amer- 
ica the  war  of  the  Austrian  Succession,  which  began  with 
the  seizure  of  Silesia  by  Frederick  the  Great  in  1740,  and 
ended  with  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1748. 

On  the  southeast  side  of  Cape  Breton  Island,  in  a  very 
commanding  position,  was  a  small  town  which  had  been 
known  as  English  Harbour,  but  which  in  the  many  vicissi- 
tudes of  Acadia  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  French 
and  had  been  by  them  christened  Louisburg,  after 

J  Louisburg 

the  king.    After  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  the  French 

refused  to  surrender  Cape  Breton  Island  on  the  ground  that 

1  [The  whole  of  this  ballad  is  given  in  Hart's  American  History 
told  by  Contemporaries,  ii.  344-346.] 


226  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

the  name  "  Acadia "  applied  only  to  Nova  Scotia  in  the 
strictest  sense,  excluding  the  adjacent  islands.  About  1720 
the  French  began  fortifying  this  place,  and  went  on  until 
they  had  spent  a  sum  equivalent  to  more  than  $10,000,000 
of  our  modern  money,  and  had  made  it  one  of  the  strongest 
places  in  the  world,  scarcely  surpassed  by  Quebec  or  Gibral- 
tar. With  reference  to  Canada,  France,  and  the  West  Indies, 
this  place  occupied  a  central  position.  It  blocked  the  way  to 
any  English  ascent  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  such  as  had  been 
attempted  in  1690  and  171 1,  and  it  afforded  an  admirable 
base  of  supplies  from  which  a  powerful  French  squadron 
might  threaten  Boston  or  any  other  English  city  upon  the 
Atlantic  coast. 

It  was  in  1744  that  France  and  England  were  dragged 
into  the  war  between  Austria  and  Prussia,  and  no  sooner 
had  the  news  arrived  in  America  than  Duquesnal,  the  French 
commander  of  Louisburg,  sent  a  squadron  to  surprise  and 
capture   such  English  ports   in  Nova   Scotia   as  might  be 

found  insuffi- 
ciently guarded. 
The  little  port 
of  Canseau  was 
at  once  taken,  and  an  energetic  but  fruitless  attack  was 
made  upon  Port  Royal.  A  certain  number  of  prisoners  who 
had  been  taken  from  Canseau  to  Louisburg  were  returned  in 
the  autumn  of  1744,  and  they  sent  such  messages  to  Gov- 
ernor Shirley  as  led  him  to  believe  that  a  prompt  at- 

The  project  J  .  r  r 

to  capture  tack  upon  Louisburg  itself  might  prove  successful. 
Perhaps  the  first  person  to  entertain  such  a  scheme 
seriously  was  William  Vaughan,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in 
1722,  whose  father  had  been  lieutenant-governor  of  New 
Hampshire.  Vaughan  had  an  estate  on  the  Damariscotta 
River,  and  did  a  brisk  trade  in  lumber  and  fish.  There  was 
imminent  danger  that  Louisburg  might  work  the  destruction 
of   the   English  fisheries,  and  Vaughan,  who  was  daring  to 


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NORRIDGEWOCK   AND    LOUISBURG  227 

the  verge  of  foolhardiness,  thought  it  a  good  plan  to  antici- 
pate such  a  calamity  by  capturing  the  impregnable  fortress. 
So  bold  was  the  project  that  Parkman  gives  to  his  chapter 
on  this  subject  the  simple  heading,  "A  Mad  Scheme."1 
Fortunately,  Shirley  was  himself  a  man  of  courage  and  re- 
source. After  a  conversation  with  Vaughan,  Shirley  informed 
his  legislature  that  he  had  a  proposal  to  make  of  such  great 
importance  that  he  wished  them  before  receiving  it  to  take 
an  oath  of  secrecy.  Shirley  had  shown  much  tact  in  avoid- 
^^^  ing  dissensions  with  his  leg- 

/x^ "Z>r*j^^Si  islature,   and    this   extraordi- 

nary   request    was    granted, 


<X7V^ 


ijL 


but  when  the  Assembly  came  to  consider  the  question  of 
attacking  Louisburg  without  assistance  from  British  arms, 
the  Assembly  deemed  the  proposal  chimerical,  and  voted  to 
reject  it.  Nothing  daunted,  however,  Shirley  returned  to  the 
attack,  and  with  the  active  cooperation  of  many  merchants 
who  felt  that  their  business  absolutely  demanded  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  French  stronghold,  he  succeeded  at  last  in  ob- 
taining a  majority  of  one  vote  in  the  Assembly.  The  next 
step  was  to  seek  aid  from  the  other  colonies,  but 

The  New 

only   New   Hampshire,    Rhode   Island,   and    Con-   England 
necticut  gave  favourable  responses.     Connecticut   undertake 
and  New  Hampshire  furnished  each  500  men,  and   theattack 
Rhode  Island  furnished  the  sloop  of  war  Tartar.    Massachu- 
setts supplied  3000  men,  and  Shirley  selected  William  Pep- 
perell  to  command  the   expedition.     Pepperell  was   a  very 
wealthy  merchant  of  Kittery,  who  had  served  as  justice  of 
the  peace  and  as  a  militia  officer  of  various  grades,  ending 
with  colonel.     He  was  by  no  means  a  genius,  but  a  man 
1  [Half  Century  of  Conflict,  ii.  78-107.] 


228  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

of  energy,  good  sense,  and  tact.  He  was  now  raised  to  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-general,  and  Roger  Wolcott  of  Connecti- 
cut was  commissioned  major-general  and  appointed  second 
in  command.  Pepperell's  good  sense  was  sufficient  to  make 
him  doubt  the  possibility  of  success  ;  and  the  Rev.  George 
^^  Whitefield,  when  asked  to 

£/^?    '/s//     f        /£*  furnish  a  motto  for  one  of 

-^\  W'/O**mC6»0* —  the  flags,  suggested  Ml 
^k  desperandum  CJiristo  duce, 

^**"^  or,  in  other  words,  There 

is  room  for  hope  when  Christ  is  leader,  which,  under  the 
circumstances,  does  not  seem  to  indicate  a  very  exuberant 
confidence  on  the  part  of  the  great  preacher. 

As  for  a  naval  force,  it  was  always  possible  to  extemporize 
something  of  the  sort  in  New  England,  where  almost  every 
The  naval  seaport  had  citizens  ready  to  venture  money  in  pri- 
force  vateering,  or  perhaps  in  equipping  expeditions  for 

capturing  privateers  from  Frenchmen  and  Spaniards.  The 
force  collected  for  the  Louisburg  expedition  consisted  of  one 
new  24-gun  frigate  and  twelve  smaller  vessels,  mostly  sloops 
of  from  8  to  20  guns.  This  was  a  ludicrous  force  for  the 
purpose  assigned  ;  one  French  line-of-battle  ship  could  easily 
have  destroyed  the  whole  of  it.  To  put  4000  men  upon 
Cape  Breton  Island  without  an  adequate  naval  force  to  insure 

their  retreat  might  easily  entail  their  starvation  or  capture. 
More  ships  must  be  had,  and  Shirley  sent  a  message  to  Com- 
modore Peter  Warren,  at  the  island  of  Antigua,  requesting 
assistance.  Warren  was  inclined  to  give  the  aid  required, 
but  a  council  of  war  overruled  him,  and  he  declined ;  but 


/ 
cr/4 


LETTER 

FROM 

William  Shirley,  Efq^ 

Gov  e  R  nor    of  MaJJcchufet  s '  Bay^ 
To  his  Grace  the 

Duke  of  Newcaflle : 

WITH. 

A  JOURNAL  of  the  Siege  of 
Louisbcnrg,  and  other  Operations  of  the 
Force?,  during  the  Expedition  againft 
the  French  Settlements  on  Cape  Breton  •> 
drawn  up  at  the  Defire  of  the  Council 
and  Houfe  of  Rcprefentatives  of  the 
Province  of  Majfacbufet's  Bay  ;  approved 
and  attended  by  Sir  William  Pepperrell, 
and  the  other  Principal  Officers  who 
commanded  in  the  (aid  Expedition. 

Publiffjca  bp  ftutljomp. 

* ■  ■"'     t 

LONDON: 

Printed  by  E.  Given  in  Warwick- Lane,  1746. 
(Price  Six-pence,)  - 


TITLE    OF    SHIRLEY'S    ACCOUNT    OF    THE    LOUISBURG    EXPEDITION 


230  NEW  FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

Shirley  had  wisely  provided  another  string  to  his  bow,  and 
had  written  some  time  before  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  Sec- 
retary of  State,  pointing  out  the  great  danger  to  the  fisheries 
and  the  Acadian  ports  from  the  proximity  of  Louisburg.  It 
was  this  Duke  of  Newcastle  who  knew  so  little  about  Amer- 
ican affairs  that,  one  day  when  he  was  told  that  Annapolis 
must  be  fortified,  he  replied,  "  Annapolis,  Annapolis  !  Oh,  yes, 
Annapolis  must  be  defended ;  to  be  sure,  Annapolis  should 
be  defended.  Where  is  Annapolis  ?  "  2  Fortunately,  this  ami- 
able secretary's  zeal  was  better  than  his  knowledge,  and  he 
promptly  wrote  to  Commodore  Warren,  ordering  him  to  sail 
for  Boston  and  do  what  he  could  to  help  the  cause.  Warren 
accordingly  sailed  with  one  line-of-battle  ship  and  two  44-gun 
frigates.  While  on  the  way  he  met  a  Boston  vessel  which 
informed  him  that  Pepperell's  force  had  already  sailed,  so 
Warren  changed  his  course  and  joined  the  expedition  at  Can- 
seau.  Perhaps  Pepperell  had  been  precipitate,  but  in  point 
The  French  °^  ^act  ^s  headlong  speed  was  the  salvation  of 
surprised  fae  enterprise.  The  French  were  practically  taken 
unawares ;  for  although  rumours  of  the  scheme  had  reached 
them,  they  had  been  inclined  to  laugh  them  to  scorn.  What 
likelihood  was  there  of  an  enemy  attacking  them  with  any 
hope?  Their  batteries  mounted  at  least  150  heavy  guns, 
against  which  the  provincial  assailants  brought  a  vastly  infe- 
rior armament  in  size  and  strength.  The  British  ships,  how- 
ever, constituted  a  powerful  reinforcement.  The  French 
garrison  consisted  of  560  French  regulars  and  Swiss  merce- 
naries, with  about  1400  Canadian  militia,  some  2000  in  all. 

The  New  Englanders  effected  a  landing  on  the  1  st  of  May, 
and  immediately  laid  siege  to  the  town.  On  the  next  day 
Vaughan  led  400  men  behind  a  line  of  hills  to  a  point  where 
there  were  large  magazines  of  naval  stores.  These  he  set 
on  fire ;  and  what  with  the  pitch  and  tar  and  other  such  com- 

1  [Horace  Walpole,  Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of  King  George  II,  i. 
396.] 


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FACSIMILE    OF    PEPPERELL'S    DEMAND    FOR    THE    SURRENDER    OF    LOUISBURG 


232  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

bustibles,  the  smoke  that  came  up  and  floated  over  the  town 
The  Grand  was  something  quite  tremendous.  One  effect  upon 
Abandoned  tne  French  was  absurd.  Near  the  burning  stores 
in  panic  was  a  large  fortification  known  as  the  Grand  Bat- 
tery, mounting  30  heavy  guns.  As  the  thick  clouds  of 
smoke  rolled  up  and  enveloped  this  battery,  the  defenders 
were  seized  with  panic  and  abandoned  it  without  firing  a  shot ; 
so  that  when  Vaughan's  men  passed  it,  observing  the  pro- 
found quiet,  they  reconnoitred  for  a  moment  and  then  exult- 
ingly  marched  in.  So  hastily  had  the  French  departed  that 
they  left  an  immense  quantity  of  ammunition  as  a  present 
for  Vaughan's  men,  while  the  cannon  were  so  poorly  spiked 
that  the  gunsmith,  Seth  Pomeroy,  had  them  all  ready  for  use 
the  next  morning.  So  that  our  New  Englanders  could  now 
bombard  the  town  with  cannon  and  shot  provided  by  the 
most  Christian  king. 

This  capture  of  the  Grand  Battery  was  something  on 
which  the  besiegers  had  no  right  to  count,  for  if  it  had  been 
properly  defended  they  probably  could  not  have  taken  it. 
As  it  was,  its  loss  by  the  French  probably  decided  the  issue 
of  the  whole  conflict.  The  New  England  troops  pressed 
matters  with  vigour,  and  at  the  end  of  a  week  demanded  the 
surrender  of  the  place,  but  the  time  had  not  yet  come.  On 
May  19  a  French  line-of-battle  ship  arrived  upon  the  scene 
Capture  of  a  heavily  laden  with  material  of  war,  and  on  approach- 
of-battiehne"  mS  tne  town  she  encountered  one  of  the  English 
ship  ships   of   smaller  calibre,  which,  retreating  before 

her,  lured  her  within  reach  of  the  whole  British  fleet.  She 
was  soon  surrounded  and  captured,  and  all  her  material  of 
war  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  besiegers.  Presently  the 
latter  received  a  great  reinforcement  by  the  arrival  of  eight 
British  seventy-fours,  under  cover  of  which  the  troops  were 
able  to  establish  new  batteries  at  various  points.  By  the 
middle  of  June  there  was  scarcely  a  house  in  the  town  that 
had  not  been  more  or  less  riddled  by  shot  and  shell.     The 


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LOUISEURG 


NORRIDGEWOCK   AND    LOUISBURG 


233 


British  fleet  held  the  harbour  closely  invested,  and    1000 
scaling  ladders  were  made  ready  for  a  grand  attack.     This 
was  too  much  for  the  Frenchmen,  and  on  the  1 7th    Louisburg 
of  June  this  famous  fortress  was  surrendered.    The    jSne " 7?re 
mad  scheme  of  Vaughan  and  Shirley  had  become    ,745 
a  sober  reality.     When  the  news  was  disseminated  abroad 
the  civilized  world  was  dumb  with  amazement.     For  the  first 
time  it  waked  up  to  the  fact  that  a  new  military  power  had 
grown  up  in  America.     One  of  the  strongest  fortresses  on 
the  face  of  the  earth  had  surrendered  to  a  force  of  New 
England  militia.     Pepper- 
ell  was  at  once  created  a 
baronet,   being    the    only 
native  American  who  ever 
attained  that  rank.     War- 
ren was  promoted  to  the 
grade  of  admiral.     Louis- 
burg   Square    in    Boston 
commemorates     the     vic- 
tory.    Some    twenty-five 
years  ago,  when  we  were 
rebuilding     the      eastern 
transept  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege Library,  I  discovered 
in  a  gloomy  corner  an  iron 
cross  about  thirty  inches 
in  height,  which  had  stood 
in    the    market-place    at 

Louisburg  and  was  brought  to  Cambridge  as  a  trophy.     I 
thought  it  a  pity  to  hide  such  a  thing,  so  I  had  it    A  relic  of 
gilded  and  set  up  over  the  southern  entrance  to  the    Louisburg 
library,  where  it  remained  several  years,  until  one  night  some 
silly  vandals,  presumed  to  be  students,  succeeded  in  detach- 
ing this  heavy  mass  of  iron  and  carrying  it  away.1 
1  [Fortunately  it  has  since  been  returned,  and  is  now  in  the  library.] 


LOUISBURG    CROSS 


CHAPTER   VIII 

BEGINNINGS    OF    THE    GREAT    WAR 

The  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  did  very  little  to  set  matters 
at  rest  in  North  America ;  it  provided  only  a  short  breathing 
spell  before  the  numerous  unsettled  questions  gave 
of  Aix-ia-  rise  to  another  and  far  greater  war.  The  treaty 
did  little  or  nothing  toward  marking  out  bounda- 
ries either  at  the  east  in  Acadia,  or  at  the  west  toward  the 
Ohio  valley,  and  it  was  in  the  latter  region  that  the  next 
great  storm  was  to  burst.  By  1748  the  schemes  of  La  Salle 
had  developed  as  far  as  they  were  ever  destined  to  do.  A 
thriving  colony  had  been  founded  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  and  that  region  was  connected  with  Canada 
by  a  straggling  series  of  fortified  villages  at  great  distances 
apart.  Such  places  were  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia,  as  well  as 
Fort  Chartres  in  the  Illinois  country,  and  Detroit. 

But  the  French  were  now  beginning  to  feel  the  disadvan- 
tage of  scarcity  of  numbers  distributed  over  long  exterior 
lines.  Every  year  that  brought  them  closer  to  contact  with 
the  English  made  this  disadvantage  more  apparent.  Since 
La  Salle's  time  a  great  change  had  come  over  the  land.  In 
his  day,  Pennsylvania  was  merely  the  banks  of  the  Delaware 
The  spread  River,  while  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  settlements 
Sshweft?"  were  confined  to  the  tidewater  regions  ;  but  by 
ward  j  ^g  n0|-  onjy  kac[  these  English  populations  spread 

for  many  miles  into  the  interior,  but  a  fresh  migration  from 
Europe,  conducted  on  a  greater  scale  than  any  of  its  pre- 
decessors, had  introduced  into  the  middle  Appalachian  region 
an  active  and  aggressive  population.     Of  the  3,000,000  in- 


BEGINNINGS    OF    THE    GREAT   WAR  235 

habitants  of  the  United  States  in  1776,  at  least  one  sixth  part 
were  Presbyterians  who  had  come  from  the  north  The  Scotch. 
of  Ireland  since  1720.1  Along  with  these  there  Irish 
was  a  considerable  population  of  Protestant  Germans  who 
had  come  at  about  the  same  time.  By  far  the  greater  part 
of  this  population  had  passed  through  the  old  settled  sea- 
board districts  and  made  homes  for  itself  on  what  was  then 
the  western  frontier ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Alleghany  region  of 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas.  From 
this  population  came  some  of  the  most  hardy  and  enterpris- 
ing pioneers  of  the  old  west,  such  men  as  Daniel  Boone, 
James  Robertson,  and  John  Sevier  the  Huguenot ;  for  in 
this  movement  we  find  the  name  of  many  a  Protestant 
Frenchman  enlisted  under  the  banner  of  St.  George.  By 
1748  the  settled  English  population  was  fast  approaching 
the  Appalachian  ranges,  and  the  more  mobile  company  of 
hunters,  trappers,  fur-traders,  and  other  pioneers  The 
were  passing  beyond  them  and  fast  making  their  p^The 
mark  upon  the  western  country.  A  company  had  Alleghanies 
already  been  formed  in  Virginia  for  the  improvement  of 
lands  on  the  Ohio  River,  and  in  this  company  were  inter- 
ested some  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  colony,  in- 
cluding two  brothers  of  George  Washington.  Some  of  the 
pioneers  were  pressing  forward  to  make  homes  in  the  wilder- 
ness where  afterward  grew  up  the  two  great  commonwealths 
of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  ;  but  that  stage  was  only  real- 
ized three  years  later.  Meanwhile  as  the  Indian  trade  was 
lucrative,  and  hunting  had  its  charms,  all  the  restless  spirits 
who  preferred  life  in  the  wilderness  to  life  on  plantations 
were  finding   their  way  through  the  picturesque  defiles  of 

1  [Cf.  on  the  Scotch-Irish,  Fiske,  Old  Virginia  a?id  her  Neighbours, 
Illustrated  Edition,  ii.  370-376  ;  The  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,  Illus- 
trated Edition,  ii.  334-336  ;  and  Mr.  C.  A.  Hanna's  elaborate  work,  The 
Scotch-Irish,  or  the  Scot  in  North  Britain,  North  Ireland,  and  North 
America,  2  vols.,  New  York,  1902.] 


236  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

the  mountains  down  the  broad  grassy  slopes  through  which 
flowed  the  western  rivers. 

Now  this  advance  of  the  English  frontier  was  an  advance 
against  the  centre  of  the  whole  French  position.     In  those 

days,  as  at  present,  there  were  two  great  routes, 
vance  of  the  whether  for  military  purposes  or  for  trade,  between 
menace  to      the  Atlantic  seaboard  and  the  Mississippi  valley. 

One  of  these  was  from  Albany  to  the  Niagara 
River,  and  thence  westward  either  to  the  north  or  to  the 
south  of  Lake  Erie.  The  other  was  from  Philadelphia  or 
Baltimore  to  Pittsburg,  and  thence  down  the  Ohio  River.  It 
followed,  therefore,  that  if  the  English  could  firmly  hold  both 
the  Niagara  River  and  the  junction  between  the  Allegheny 
and  the  Monongahela,  where  Pittsburg  now  stands,  it  would 
be  in  their  power  to  strike  at  the  centre  of  the  long  exterior 
line  held  by  the  French,  and  forever  to  cut  Louisiana  asun- 
der from  Canada.  By  degrees  the  more  far-sighted  French- 
men who  administered  the  affairs  of  Canada  had  been  taking 
in  the  alarming  character  of  the  situation.  Since  the  early 
m    „      ,    part  of  the  century  the  influence  of  the  Frenchmen 

The  French     r  J. 

influence  over  the  Indian  tribes  had  relatively  diminished. 
Indians  They  held  as  firmly  as  ever  the  alliance  of  the 
northern  Algonquins,  from  the  Micmacs  of  Nova 
Scotia  to  the  Ojibways  of  Lake  Superior,  and  at  one  time 
in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  their  influence 
had  waxed  strong  even  among  their  ancient  enemies  of  the 
Long  House.  The  persuasive  tongues  of  the  Jesuits  had 
even  won  converts  among  the  Mohawks,  a  small  colony  of 
whom  they  had  established  at  Caughnawaga  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence River,  a  short  distance  above  Montreal.  These  Caugh- 
nawagas  were  useful  as  middle-men  in  the  trade  between  the 
remote  northwest  and  the  province  of  New  York  by  way  of 
Lake  Champlain,  and  they  were  also  of  considerable  service 
as  spies  to  report  in  Canada  the  affairs  of  New  York.  These 
circumstances  led  William  Burnet,  the  able  governor  of  New 


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BEGINNINGS    OF   THE   GREAT    WAR 


237 


York,  to  build  a  fortress  at  Oswego  in  1722  upon  land  which 
he  bought  for  the  purpose  from  the  Six  Nations.     As  the 
New  York  Assembly  was  as  froward  and  penny  wise 
as  usual,  Burnet  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  paying   founding 
the  expenses  out  of  his  own  pocket.     This  found- 
ing of  Oswego  was  an  event  of  prime  importance  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  United  States,  inasmuch  as  it  diverted  the  main 


THE    SOUTH    VIEW   OF    OSWEGO 


current  of  the  northwestern  fur  trade  from  the  valley  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  and  thus  greatly 
strengthened  the  hold  of  the  English  upon  the  Long  House 
all  the  way  from  the  Hudson  River  to  Lake  Erie.1  In  1738 
this  English  influence  was  still  further  increased  by  the  ar- 
rival of  that  remarkable  man,  William  Johnson,  a  native  of 
Ireland,  who  waxed  rich  in  the  Indian  trade,  built  for  himself 
two  strongholds  in  the  Mohawk  valley,  and  acquired  such  a 
reputation  among  the  Mohawks  that  they  revered  him  like 
one  of  their  natural  chiefs.  The  influence  exerted  Sir  William 
upon  the  Indians  by  Johnson  and  by  the  Schuylers  J°hnson 
of  Albany,  as  well  as  through  the  trading  station  at  Oswego, 
1  [W.  L.  Stone,  Life  and  Times  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  i.  30-32.] 


238  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

made  it  probable  that  in  the  event  of  a  conflict  with  France 
the  English  could  control  the  Niagara  River. 

Still  more  important,  however,  was  the  mountainous  site 
of  Pittsburg,  the  Gateway  of  the  West,  as  it  used  to  be 
called  ;  for  it  was  in  that  neighbourhood  that  the  English 
were  already  pressing  westward  and  winning  control  over  the 
numerous  and  powerful  tribes  of  the  Ohio  valley.  Among 
these  should  especially  be  mentioned  the  Delawares  and 
Shawnees  upon  the  upper  Ohio ;  and  with  them  were  asso- 
ciated the  remnants  of  the  Hurons,  generally  known  as 
Wyandottes,  and  likewise  a  group  which  had  migrated  from 
the  Long  House,  apparently  consisting  chiefly  of  Senecas, 
but  called  by  the  frontiersmen  Mingos.  Westward  of  all 
these  came  the  Miamis,  and  then  the  Illinois.  Late  in  the 
seventeenth  century  all  these  tribes  had  been  invaded,  tor- 
mented, and  made  more  or  less  tributary  by  the  Long  House. 
Whether  they  acknowledged  the  relationship  or  not,  the  Long 
House  asserted  it  whenever  an  occasion  offered.  French 
influence  over  these  tribes  had  never  been  strong  except 
English  among  the  Illinois.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Eng- 
tSfohio1  ^sn  traders  as  they  came  into  the  Ohio  valley  were 
valley  careful  to  propitiate  the  natives,  and  succeeded  in 

establishing  a  strong  influence  over  them,  especially  the 
tribes  of  the  upper  Ohio.  Obviously,  if  this  sort  of  thing 
were  to  go  on,  it  would  not  be  long  before  the  English  would 
hold  the  whole  stretch  of  country  from  Oswego  south  of 
Lake  Erie  to  Cahokia  as  firmly  as  the  French  held  the  coun- 
try from  Montreal  to  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie ;  in  other  words, 
the  English  would  hold  both  the  great  routes  between  east 
and  west,  and  New  France  would  be  severed  in  twain. 

This  situation  was  distinctly  realized  by  the  Marquis  de  la 
Galissoniere,  who  governed  Canada  in  1 749  ;  and  that  year 
he  sent  a  party  of  about  250  men'  to  inspect  the  country 
between  the  Niagara  and  Ohio  rivers,  to  take  possession  of 
it  in  the  name  of  the  French  king,  and  to  ascertain  the  sen- 


MAP  SHOWING 

THE 

BRITISH  COLONIES 

AND 

NORTHERN  NEW  FRANCE 
1 750-1 7G0 

Scale  of  Miles 


0       40       80  ICO  240 

Dark   buff  represents  1,000  ft.  and   over. 

21  New  France  £  ^]  British  Colonies 


from  Greenwich 


BEGINNINGS    OF    THE    GREAT   WAR 


239 


timents  of  the  native  tribes.     The  command  of  this  party 
was  entrusted  to  a  captain  and  chevalier  named  Celoron  de 


CELORON    DE    BIENVILLE 


Bienville.  They  went  up  the  St.  Lawrence  as  far  as  Fort 
Frontenac,  crossed  Lake  Ontario  in  canoes  which  they  car- 
ried up  by  the  bank  of  the  Niagara  River,  and  launching 
them  at  a  safe  distance  above  the  falls,  made  their  way  into 
Lake   Erie.     Then   for  seven  days   they   forced   their  way 


240  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

through  the  dense  forest  to  the  placid  waters  of  Chautau- 
qua Lake,  and  after  landing  where  Jamestown  now  stands, 
and  struggling  once  more  with  the  tangled  woods,  they 
reached  the  Allegheny  River.  At  that  point  of  their  route 
on  the  29th  of  July  they  took  possession  of  the  country  in 
the  name  of  Louis  XV.  This  act  of  taking  possession  was 
Ceioron  performed  as  follows  :  The  royal  arms  of  France 
takes  Pos-      stamped  upon  a  tin   plate  were  nailed  to  a  tree. 

session  of  L  *  * 

the  Ohio       At  the  root  of  the  tree  a  plate  of  lead  was  buried, 

valley  for  ... 

Louis  xv.,  upon  which  was  an  inscription  stating  that  Mon- 
sieur Ceioron  had  buried  this  plate  "as  a  token 
of  renewal  of  possession  heretofore  taken  of  the  aforesaid 
river  Ohio,  of  all  streams  that  fall  into  it,  and  all  lands 
on  both  sides  to  the  source  of  the  aforesaid  streams,  as  the 
preceding  kings  of  France  have  enjoyed  or  ought  to  have 
enjoyed  it,  and  which  they  have  upheld  by  force  of  arms 
and  by  treaties,  notably  by  those  of  Ryswick,  Utrecht,  and 
Aix-la-Chapelle."  :  It  will  be  observed  that  this  is  the  usual 
style  which  France  has  maintained  for  some  centuries. 
Whenever  her  borders  have  been  extended  it  has  always 
been  officially  declared  to  be  simply  taking  possession  of 
what  was  hers  already.  Upon  various  other  spots  as  they 
descended  the  river  our  party  of  Frenchmen  buried  these 
leaden  tablets,  the  last  place  being  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Great  Miami.  Some  of  the  plates  have  since  then  been  dug 
up  and  preserved  in  museums.  The  general  demeanour  of 
the  Indians  through  whose  towns  the  Frenchmen  passed 
was  polite,  but  suspicious  and  unsatisfactory.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  the  English  influence  was  strong  throughout  the 
upper  country  drained  by  the  Ohio.  When  Celo- 
among  the  ron  reached  the  Great  Miami  he  turned  his  course 
up  that  river  and  presently  came  to  a  village  of 
the  Miamis,  ruled  by  a  chieftain  who  was  a  firm  friend  to  the 

1  [A  facsimile  of  this  plate  is  given  in  Winsor,  Narrative  and  Criti- 
cal Hist,  of  America,  v.  9.] 


242  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

English,  in  so  much  that  they  commonly  called  him  "  Old 
Britain,"  but  the  French  oddly  called  him  "  La  Demoiselle," 
or  "  The  Maiden."  Whether  he  was  faint-hearted,  as  such 
an  epithet  might  seem  to  imply,  or  perhaps  more  delicate  of 
feature  than  others  of  his  race,  we  cannot  say ;  but  as  to  his 
capacity  for  lying,  we  are  not  left  in  doubt.  His  home  had 
formerly  been  upon  the  Maumee  River,  not  far  from  the  site 
of  Fort  Wayne,  and  he  had  now  moved  close  down  to  the 
Ohio,  apparently  in  order  to  be  in  the  highway  of  English 
trade.  Celoron  heaped  gifts  upon  him  and  urged  him  to 
take  his  men  back  to  their  old  home  on  the  Maumee.  The 
astute  Demoiselle  accepted  the  presents  and  was  profuse  in 
The  Miamis  promises,  but  so  far  was  he  from  retiring  that  he 
English  gathered  into  his  new  town  as  many  recruits  as  he 
influence  could  summon.1  The  English  called  it  Pickawil- 
lany.  It  became  one  of  the  principal  Indian  towns  of  the 
west,  completely  under  English  influence,  and  was  a  serious 
obstacle  to  all  French  schemes  in  that  quarter.  For  some 
time,  Canadian  officials  intrigued  and  fulminated  against  Pick- 
awillany,  until  at  length  in  the  summer  of  1752  Charles  de 
The  French  Langlade,  a  young  French  trader  of  Green  Bay, 
Miamftrad-  ^  a  lar&e  f°rce  of  Ojibways  and  Ottawas  against 
ing  village  the  obnoxious  town.  They  took  it  by  surprise, 
slaughtered  many  of  the  defenders,  and  burned  the  town, 
crowning  the  work  by  a  hilarious  supper  in  which  they 
feasted  upon  the  boiled  carcase  of  the  Demoiselle  himself. 

Considering  the  vital  importance  of  the  Gateway  of  the 
West,  it  seems  very  strange  that  the  English,  who  were  then 
in  possession  of  it,  did  not  build  and  maintain  a  strong  for- 
tress there,  but  in  truth  the  spot  was  claimed  at  once  by 
Virginia  and  by  Pennsylvania,  and  in  neither  of  these  pro- 
vinces did  the  legislature  wish  to  invest  money  in  property 
that  might  be  adjudged  to  belong  to  another  province.     The 

1  [A  facsimile  of  the  map  of  Father  Bonnecamp,  the  chaplain  of  the 
expedition,  is  given  in  Winsor,  Narr.  andCrit.  Hist,  of  Amer.,  v.  569.] 


BEGINNINGS    OF    THE    GREAT    WAR  243 

swarm  of  difficulties  that  surrounded  this  unsettled  question 
sufficed  to  prevent  all  action.     Meanwhile,  a  new  governor 
came  to  Canada,  the  Marquis  Duquesne,  who  saw  clearly  that 
New  France  must  either  control  the  Gateway  of 
the  West,  or  give  up  all  hold  upon  the  Ohio  valley    Marquis 
and  submit  to  see  Canada  severed  from  Louisiana. 
Accordingly,  in  the  spring  of   1753    Duquesne   sent  out  a 
force  of   1500  men  commanded  by  an  able  veteran  named 
Marin.     This  little  army  crossed  Lake  Erie  at  some  distance 
to  the  west  of  Niagara  River,   and   landed   at  PresquTsle, 
where  the  town  of  Erie  now  stands,  and  there  they  built  a 
strong  blockhouse.     From  that  point  they  cut  a 

te  1  .        J  The  French 

road  through  the  forest  to  the  stream  since  known   expedition 
as  French  Creek,  and  there  they  erected  a  second 
blockhouse  and  called  it  Fort  Le  Bceuf.     Here  they  could  re- 
sume their  canoes  and  easily  float  down  French  Creek  to  the 

Allegheny 
River,  and 
so    on,    if 
need  be,  to 
the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.     At   this   point   the   French 
commander   fell  dangerously  ill,  and 
his  place  was  taken  by  another  skilful 
veteran,  Legardeur  de  Saint-Pierre. 

By  these  active  measures  the  French  were  gaining  strength 
daily.     It  is  true  that  the  Indians  of  the  region  they  were  en- 
tering were  friends  of  the  English,  but  the  red  man's  politics 
were  apt  to  be  of  a  vacillating  sort,  and  truckling 
to  strength  was  one  of  their  chief  characteristics,    between 
They  resembled  the  politics  of  the  famous  Vicar  of 
Bray,  whose  conduct  was  always  guided  by  one  unswerving 
principle,  no  matter  what  party  might  be  uppermost,  always 
to  remain  Vicar  of  Bray,   sir.     The   red   man  was  usually 
ready  to  follow  the  advice  of  Mr.  Pickwick  and  shout  with 


244  NEW    FRANCE    AND   NEW   ENGLAND 

whichever  mob  shouted  the  loudest.  This  was  seen  in  the 
conduct  of  a  feathered  potentate  whom  the  English  called 
the  Half-King ;  he  came  out  from  his  village  with  a  show  of 
fight,  but  soon  made  up  his  mind  that  discretion  was  the 
better  part  of  valour.  Fifteen  hundred  Frenchmen !  truly 
the  white  father  at  Quebec  must  be  a  mighty  chief.  Sev- 
eral tribes  sent  messages  seeking  to  curry  favour  with  the 
invaders. 

It  was  Duquesne's  intention  to  have  a  third  fort  built  at 
Venango,  where  French  Creek  flows  into  the  Allegheny, 
and  an  advance  party,  commanded 
by  Joncaire,   had  arrived   at   that       f^l/  '-V5^      '/  ^ 


place  and  seized  and  fortified  an 
English  trading  house  there.  Thus 
far  had  things  proceeded  in  the  early  days  of  December, 
1753,  when  one  evening  as  Joncaire  and  his  friends  were 
a  chance  sitting  down  to  supper,  some  unbidden  guests  ar- 
meeting  rived  upon  the  scene.  The  party  consisted  of 
Christopher  Gist,  a  veteran  trader  who  acted  as  guide,  an 
Indian  interpreter  named  Davison,  a  French  interpreter 
named  Vanbraam,  and  four  wood  rangers  as  servants.  The 
person  for  whom  this  little  party  acted  as  escort  was  a  tall 
and  stately  youth  named  George  Washington,  a 
George  major  in  the  Virginia  militia.     Governor  Dinwid- 

sentSt0n\?am  die  of  Virginia,  who  was  keeping  as  keen  a  watch 
the  French     upon  ^  q^q  vauev  from  Williamsburg  as  Du- 

quesne  was  keeping  from  Montreal,  had  heard  of  the  crossing 
of  Lake  Erie  by  the  French  and  their  approach  toward  the 
Gateway  of  the  West.  To  warn  them  off  was  a  delicate 
matter,  while  to  counteract  their  intrigues  with  the  Indians 
a  wise  head  was  called  for.  Washington  had  been  in  the 
employ  of  Lord  Fairfax  in  surveying  frontier  land,  and  had 
made  good  use  of  the  opportunities  for  studying  Indians. 
Governor  Dinwiddie,  moreover,  gave  him  credit  for  a  clear- 
sightedness that  nothing  could  hoodwink  and  a  courage  that 


^ 


Ml 


246  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

nothing  could  daunt,  and  in  this  the  wise  old  Scotchman  was 
not  deceived. 

After  the  party  had  sat  down  to  supper  and  the  wine  had 
begun  to  circulate,  the  Frenchmen  grew  somewhat  confiden- 
tial, and  with  their  politest  smiles  assured  Washington  that 
they  intended  to  drive  the  English  out  of  all  that 

The  French  J  ■  ,  •         ,  i  ,    ,       . 

boast  of  country ;  and  they  ielt  sure  that  they  could  do  it, 
for  although  inferior  in  force,  they  more  than  made 
up  for  this  by  their  quickness  of  movement.  The  next  day 
Washington  proceeded  to  Fort  Le  Bceuf,  where  he  met  the 
French  commander,  and  gave  him  a  polite  letter  from  Din- 
widdie  expressing  his  surprise  that  he  should  thus  venture  to 
encroach  upon  . 

English     terri-  /^S      / /i^A    '  *     Tl  ' 

toryintimeof      ^J^t '  ££ \  fUV 'UL 6 ' L4J 
peace.  The  old 

Frenchman  treated  Washington  with  extreme  politeness,  but 
said  that  he  should  feel  it  necessary  to  remain  where  he  was 
until  he  should  have  had  time  to  transmit  Dinwiddie's  letter 
to  Montreal  and  get  a  reply  from  Governor  Duquesne. 
Washington's  return  to  Virginia  was  marked  with  adven- 
tures and  some  hair-breadth  escapes.1  When  Governor  Din- 
widdie  heard  the  results  of  his  journey,  which  were  not  very 
different  from  what  he  had  anticipated,  he  made  up  his  mind 
Governor  that  as  large  a  force  as  possible  must  be  collected 
resolves  to  from  Virginia  and  other  colonies,  to  advance,  while 
Gatewathof  tnere  was  yet  time,  and  occupy  the  Gateway  of  the 
the  West  West ;  but  the  governor  of  a  free  English  colony 
was  at  a  great  disadvantage  as  compared  with  a  despotic 
governor  of  Canada.  Dinwiddie  must  persuade  his  legisla- 
ture, and  he  must  notify  other  governors,  who  in  turn  must 

1  [Washington's  Journal  of  this  expedition  is  in  Sparks's  ed.  of  his 
works,  ii.  432-447.  For  other  reprints,  see  Winsor,  Narr.  and  Crit. 
Hist.,  v.  572.  Gist's  Journal  is  to  be  found  in  the  Mass.  Hist.  Soc. 
Coll.,  3  ser.  v.  101-108.] 


BEGINNINGS   OF    THE    GREAT    WAR 


247 


persuade  their  legislatures.  We  need  not  be  surprised  that 
the  English  were  too  late.  Washington  had  selected  the 
spot  where  Pittsburg  now  stands  as  the  proper  place  for  a 
commanding  fortress,  but  scarcely  had  his  men  begun  to 
work  there  when  they  were  driven  away  by  a  superior  force 
of    Frenchmen,  who    proceeded  to   build  a   stout    ^ 

Duquesne 

fortress  and  call  it  Fort  Duquesne.     Well  might   anticipates 
the  iadignant  Dinwiddie  exclaim  in  a  letter  writ- 
ten at  this  time,  "  If  our  Assembly  had  voted  the  money  in 
November  which  they  did  in  February,  it 's  more  than  prob- 
able the  fort  would  have  been  built  and  garrisoned  before 


A  P  L  A.U 

,/>/„• 
yj!  It*  F  O  JL  T 

at 

PITTSBURGH 

on 

dv  Q  uJssins 

Nov r, j 5g . 

iu-il  inl.at.40.  io"Lonp.8o. 


Mjf>l<ir>i!tn>» 
A  Siise/rra/nr  tirnier.  tjie  (  vrtti/nx . . . 

\\  foHxfrr  Mstpituu*    

{' XaAcrnton/s  for  tAs  ArtM/rv 

J1 Hirrrat'krjC'r  400  Men 

'arrwks  /<?r  Officer* 

IWA  /wtf '  fni/n  the  Casemates. 

&L*mT,*m. 

TEneGuctrUtnm: 


PLAN    OF    FORT    DUQUESNE 


the  French  had  approached  ;  but  these  things  cannot  be 
done  without  money.  As  there  was  none  in  our  treasury,  I 
have  advanced  my  own  to  forward  the  expedition  ;  and  if 
the  independent  companies  from  New  York  come  soon,  I 
am  in  hopes  the  eyes  of  the  other  colonies  will  be  opened  ; 


248  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

and  if  they  grant  a  proper  supply  of  men,  I  hope  we  shall 
be  able  to  dislodge  the  French  or  build  a  fort  on  that 
river."  2  When  we  read  such  letters  as  this  and  realize  that 
through  the  whole  seventy  years  of  struggle  with  New 
France  the  difficulty  was  always  the  same,  we  surely  cannot 
much  wonder  that  the  British  minister  at  the  beginning  of 
Pontiac's  war  should  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  resort  to 
such  a  measure  as  the  Stamp  Act.  Americans  should  not 
forget  that  while  that  measure  was  ill-considered,  the  evil 
which  it  was  designed  to  relieve  was  most  flagrant  and  dan- 
gerous. 

In  point  of  fact,  in  May,  1754,  Dinwiddie's  force  on  the 
The  frontier  was  only  the  Virginia  regiment  of  about 

Virginia        three  hundred  men  under  Colonel  Joshua  Fry,  with 

expedition  #  .  • 

to  Fort  Major  Washington  second  in  command.     Fry  was 

detained  by  sickness  at  Will's  Creek  about  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  miles  from  Fort  Duquesne.  The  advance 
was  slow  and  difficult,  as  it  was  necessary  to  cut  roads  through 
the  virgin  forests  and  over  the  mountains  in  order  to  drag 
cannon  and  wagons.  An  advance  of  a  mile  in  a  day  was 
sometimes  all  that  could  be  accomplished.  In  spite  of  these 
obstacles,  Washington  had  crossed  the  mountains  and  en- 
camped at  a  spot  called  Great  Meadows  with  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men,  when  a  message  came  to  him  from  his 
friend  the  Half-King,  saying  that  the  French  were  upon  the 
march  to  meet  him.  For  two  or  three  days  Washington 
watched  vigilantly  for  a  surprise,  and  the  reports  that  came  in 
seemed  to  indicate  that  a  French  force  was  lurking  in  the 
Washington  neighbourhood.  Presently  the  Half-King  arrived 
French*3  upon  the  scene,  and  as  everything  indicated  that 
force  tne  enemy  intended  a  surprise,  it  was  decided  to 

find  them  if  possible  and   inflict  a  counter   surprise.    The 
result  was  that  presently  the   French  were  discovered  in  a 
ravine,   and  there   was   a  brief  fight  in  which  the  French 
1  [Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  i.  144.] 


BEGINNINGS    OF    THE    GREAT   WAR  249 

commander,  an  ensign  named  Jumonville,  was  killed,  with 
nine  others,  and  the  remaining  twenty-two  were  captured. 
After  it  was  all  over  some  of  the  prisoners  informed  Wash- 
ington that  they  were  a  party  sent  from  Fort  Duquesne  by  its 
commander,  Contrecceur,  to  carry  a  message  to  Washington. 
In  point  of  fact,  it  was  a  scouting  party  intended  to  look  out 
for  any  approaching  party  of  English,  and  to  warn  them  to 
withdraw  from  this  portion  of  New  France.  A  great  out- 
cry was  afterward  raised  by  the  French  at  what  they  chose 
to  call  perfidy  on  Washington's  part,  and  an  absurd  story 
was  circulated  to  the  intent  that  he  had  fired  upon  a  flag  of 
truce.  The  whole  case  may,  however,  be  properly  summed 
up  as  a  chance  encounter  between  two  forces  engaged  in 
actual  hostilities  before  any  declaration  of  war.  Each  side 
professed  to  be  unwilling  to  force  on  hostilities,  while  each 
side  was  eager  to  strike  the  other  as  soon  as  a  proper  occa- 
sion offered. 

After  this  affray  Washington  built  a  rude  entrenchment 
at  Great  Meadows  which  he  called  Fort  Necessity.  Fort 
A  few  days  afterward  news  came  of  Colonel  Fry's  Necessity 
death,  and  presently  other  troops  arrived  from  Virginia  and 
South  Carolina,  until  Washington  was  in  command  of  some 
three  hundred  men  besides  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
Indians  under  the  Half-King  and  others. 

Meanwhile  the  authorities  in  Canada  had  not  been  idle, 
and  the  garrison  of  Fort  Duquesne  now  numbered  fourteen 
hundred  men.  A  force  of  about  six  hundred  under  Coulon 
de  Villiers,  brother  of  the  slain  Jumonville,  marched  up  the 
Monongahela  in  quest  of  Washington.  Villiers  arrived  at 
Great  Meadows  on  a  rainy  day,  and  a  lively  firing 
was  kept  up  until  dark.     By  that  time  the  English    of  Fort 

Necessity 

found  their  powder  nearly  exhausted  and  their  guns 
foul,  while  their  food  was  gone  and  starvation  faced  them. 
Washington   therefore   accepted  the   terms   offered    by  the 
French  commander,   that  the  English   should  march   away 


250  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

with  the  honours  of  war,  with  drums  beating  and  colours 
flying,  and  that  they  should  be  protected  from  insult,  while 
on  the  other  hand  they  should  surrender  their  prisoners  of 
Jumonville's  party.  So  the  English  marched  away.  It  was 
not  a  very  murderous  affair,  and  Washington's  friend,  the  red 
man  Half-King,  sarcastically  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the 
Frenchmen  had  behaved  like  cowards  and  the  English  like 

fools.  It  was  on  the  4th  of  July  that  young  Wash- 
English         ington  began  his  doleful  retreat  across  the  moun- 

tains  into  Virginia.  The  situation  seemed  to  have 
nothing  to  retrieve  it.  At  this  first  outbreak  of  the  struggle 
with  France  the  enemy  seemed  to  be  carrying  everything 
before  them.  The  Gateway  of  the  West  was  in  their  posses- 
sion, and  the  red  flag  of  England  waved  nowhere  within 
the  limits  of  what  they  chose  to  call  New  France.  Yet  Wash- 
ington even  at  that  early  age  was  already  a  marvel  of  fortitude 
and  may  have  consoled  himself  with  the  thought  that  better 
days  were  coming. 

Before  he  was  permitted,  however,  to  see  such  better  days, 
the  cup  of  disaster  must  be  drained  to  its  dregs.  Nothing 
could  be  clearer  than  that  the  possession  of  Fort  Duquesne 
by  the  French  and  their  infliction  of  a  slight  defeat  upon  the 
English  would  have  an  immediate  and  disastrous  effect  upon 
most  of  the  Indian  tribes  in  the  Ohio  valley.  Dinwiddie 
therefore  at  once  prepared  to  assume  the  offensive  and  carry 
the  war  on  a  larger  scale  into  the  enemy's  country.  But  he 
found  himself  impeded  at  every  step  by  the  Virginia  House 
of  Burgesses.  Those  canny  planters  were  loath  to  put  much 
money  into  the  governor's  hands  lest  he  should  make  an 
Niggardii-  improper  use  of  it.  At  one  time  they  would  refuse 
Provincial6  tne  appropriation  asked  for,  at  another  time  they 
Assemblies  wou^  grant  a  sum  too  small  to  be  of  much  use, 
and  yet  again  they  would  grant  a  sufficient  sum,  while  at- 
taching to  the  bill  a  rider  concerning  some  long:disputed 
question  which  they  knew  would  elicit  an  angry  veto  from 


BEGINNINGS    OF   THE    GREAT    WAR  251 

the  governor.  Similarly  in  Pennsylvania  the  Assembly  re- 
fused money  for  military  purposes  in  order  to  wring  from 
the  governor  some  concession  with  regard  to  the  long-vexed 
question  of  taxing  proprietary  lands.  Moreover,  the  Assem- 
bly at  Philadelphia  was  not  quite  sure  that  it  was  worth 
while  to  raise  troops  for  taking  Fort  Duquesne  from  the 
French  if  it  should  thereby  fall  into  the  possession  of  Vir- 
ginia. It  was  with  difficulty  that  these  representative  bodies 
could  be  made  to  see  anything  that  required  any  breadth  of 
vision.  Moreover,  they  were  used  to  contending  against  their 
governors  ;  in  the  eyes  of  most  representatives  that  was  the 
sole  object  for  which  legislatures  existed,  but  they  were  not 
accustomed  to  devote  much  thought  to  the  French  as  ene- 
mies, nor  had  they  as  yet  learned  very  well  what  it  meant  to 
be  invaded  by  Indians.     On  the  other  hand,  New    ^u  .  , 

J  '  The  defence 

York  and  Massachusetts  were  somewhat  more  for-   of  the  coio- 

.  niesdepend- 

ward,  inasmuch  as  they  had  a  keen  perception  of  ent  on  the 
what  was  involved  in  warfare  against  Frenchmen 
and  Indians.  Here  too,  however,  the  zeal  of  the  governors 
far  outran  the  efficiency  of  the  legislatures.  Shirley,  in  par- 
ticular, a  veteran  lawyer  of  great  sense  and  more  than  aver- 
age insight,  appreciated  the  nature  of  the  threatened  struggle 
more  keenly  than  any  of  the  other  governors  except  Din- 
widdie. 

In  fact,  something  was  happening  of  the  sort  that  people 
never  quite  see  until  they  can  look  backward.  The  Eng- 
lish colonies  had  insensibly  drifted  into  a  continental  state 
of  things.  The  crisis  had  been  hastened  by  the  wholesale 
'incoming  of  the  Scotch-Irish  and  Germans.  The  bulging  of 
the  centre  of  the  English  line  toward  the  Ohio  valley  had 
brought  things  to  a  pass  where  it  was  no  longer  a  conflict 
between  New  France  and  New  England  in  the  narrower 
sense,  but  between  New  France  and  the  entire  world  of 
English  America.  Under  these  circumstances  the  next  war 
that  should  break  out  must  be  a  continental  affair ;  it  would 


252  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

concern  Louisiana  and  Georgia  as  well  as  New  York  and 
Canada ;    and  yet,  here  were  the  people  of   these  colonies 

profoundly  ignorant  and  almost  culpably  careless 
a  union  of     of  each  other's  interests,  ready  to  throw  away  all 

the  advantages  of  numerical  strength  and  interior 
lines  and  give  away  the  victory  to  an  inferior  enemy  rather 
than  cooperate  with  one  another  in  defeating  him.  Obvi- 
ously, the  crying  need  of  the  time  was  some  feasible  plan  for 
a  federal  Union.  In  the  event  of  a  war,  it  was  important  to 
insure  the  aid  of  the  Six  Nations,  and  to  this  end  it  was 
necessary  to  let  them  know  how  much  support  they  might 
expect  from  the  English  colonies.  For  this  purpose  a  con- 
gress was  called  to  assemble  at  Albany  in  the  summer  of 
1754  in  order  to  consider  the  situation.  It  was  the  sec- 
ond congress  that  assembled  on  American  soil,  the  first  hav- 
ing been  the  one  called  by  Leisler  at  New  York  in  1690.1 
It  is  significant  that  even  on  this  verge  of  a  mighty  con- 
flict only  the  four  New  England  colonies  with  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland  were  represented  at  the  Albany 
Congress.  The  deliberations  were  chiefly  memorable  for 
a  plan  of  union  drawn  up  by  Benjamin  Franklin,  which,  if 
The  Albany  it  had  been  adopted,  might  perhaps  have  averted 
Congress  ^  Revolution  of  twenty  years  later.2  This  plan 
would  have  created  a  true  federal  Union,  the  government  of 
which  would  have  operated  directly  upon  individuals,  as  our 
present  federal  Union  does,  and  not  upon  states  only,  as 
the  Continental  Congress  did.  Franklin's  plan  would  have 
created  a  Continental  government  with  taxing  power  for 
continental  purposes  only,  leaving  otherwise  intact  the  local 
self-government.     There  would  have  been  a    president    or 

1  [Cf.  Fiske,  The  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,  Illustrated  Edition, 
182,  183,  and  Frothingham,  Rise  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States, 
pp.  9Q-93-] 

2  [Such  seems  to  have  been  Franklin's  opinion  in  1789;  see  Froth- 
ingham, Rise  of  the  Republic,  etc.,  p.  149,  note.] 


<-4  a /i— 


FACSIMILE   OF   MESHECK   WEARE  S    PLAN    OF   FEDERATION 


254  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

governor-general  appointed  by  the  Crown  to  serve  as  chief 
executive  in  purely  continental  matters.1 

This  plan  of  federation  was  rejected  with  small  ceremony 
by  the  colonies.  In  some  cases  no  notice  was  taken  of  it ; 
Franklin's  m  others  it  was  treated  with  contempt.  There 
unaion°f  were  few  people  as  yet  who  saw  any  meaning  in 

rejected  the  demand  for  a  closer  union,  and  nothing  but  a 
long  experience  of  distress  and  disaster  would  have  taught 
them  the  need  of  it.     This  rejection  of  the  Albany  plan  left 

the  colonies  in  a  very  embarrassing  position.  On  the  brink 
of  a  great  war  there  was  no  single  power  in  the  country 
which  could  raise  men  and  money  for  the  common  defence. 
Of  course  there  were  but  few  who  anticipated  war,  or  were 
alive  to  the  situation.  It  was  at  this  moment  that  it  oc- 
curred to  Shirley  that  if  the  colonists  could  not  create  for 
themselves  a  continental  taxing  power,  it  would  be  necessary 
for  Parliament  to  fulfil  that  function.  This  would  involve  a 
direct  tax,  and  while  Shirley  recognized  the  American  un- 
willingness to  submit  to  taxation  by  any  other  authority 
than  that  of  the  colonial  Assemblies,  he  nevertheless  thought 

that  a  stamp  tax  might  be 
received  with  acquiescence 
because  it  had  so  few  an- 
noying  features.     It  was 
by  such  considerations  as 
these  that   the  British   official  mind  was  prepared  for  the 
Stamp  Act  of  eleven  years  later.     As  it  was,  the  colonies 
had  to  flounder  through  a  great  war  as  best  they  could. 
The  representations   of  the  royal   governors   and  of  the 

1  [See  Bigelow,  Franklin's  Works,  ii.  355-375 ;  Frothingham,  Rise 
of  the  Republic ,  etc.,  pp.  134- 151.] 


BEGINNINGS    OF   THE    GREAT   WAR 


255 


viceroy  of  Canada  created  some  excitement  both  in  Eng- 
land and  in  France.  In  England  a  couple  of  regiments,  each 
of  five  hundred  men,  were  shipped  for  Virginia  un- 

'  l  r  &  England 

der  command  of  Major-General  Edward  Braddock.    and  France 
When  this  was  learned  at  Versailles   a  force   of   to  America) 
three  thousand  men  was  started  for  Canada  under    I7:n 
Baron   Dieskau.     The  health  of   Duquesne  was  failing,  and 


RICHARD,    LORD    HOWE 


with  Dieskau' s  expedition  there  came  a  new  viceroy  for  Can- 
ada, the  last  of  her  French  governors,  Vaudreuil,  a  younger 
son  of  the  former  governor  of  that  name.  The  expedition 
did  not  get  clear  of  European  waters  without  adventure.     It 


256  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

was  well  understood  by  the  British  government  that  the 
squadron  gathering  at  Brest  had  troops  on  board  destined 
for  America.  Accordingly,  a  powerful  force  of  eighteen  or 
twenty  ships  of  the  line  was  sent  out  to  intercept  and  cap- 
ture any  French  vessels  bound  for  America.  The  greater 
part  of  the  French  squadron,  however,  got  away  ;  but  three 
of  its  ships,  having  fallen  behind  through  stress  of  weather, 
,     were  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cape  Race  when  the 

Capture  of  &  r 

two  French    British  fleet  overtook  them.     As  the  British  ship 

Dunkirk   came  abreast  of  the  French  ship  Alcide, 

a  red  flag  was  suddenly  hoisted  upon  the  British  flagship  as 

a  signal  for  fighting ;  whereupon  the  French  captain  of  the 

Alcide  called  out, 
"Is  this  peace 
or  war  ?  "  He 
was  answered  by 
Richard  Howe, 
captain  of  the 
Dunkirk,  "I 
don't  know;  but 
you  'd  better  get 
ready  for  war."  Scarcely  had  the  words  been  uttered  when 
the  Dunkirk  and  other  English  ships  opened  fire,  and  the 
Alcide,  with  one  of  her  companions,  was  forced  to  surrender. 
This  little  incident  at  sea  was  the  naval  counterpart  to  Wash- 
ington's passage  at  arms  with  Jumonville  in  the  mountains. 

It  was  in  February,  1755,  that  General  Braddock  arrived 
at  Governor  Dinwiddie's  house  at  Williamsburg.  The  spring 
General  was  spent  in  preparations  for  the  campaign  that 
Bra  dock  wag  tQ  wrest  port  Duquesne  from  the  enemy  and 
recover  the  Gateway  of  the  West.  The  figure  of  Braddock 
has  long  been  well  known  to  all  Americans,  —  a  British  bull- 
dog, brave,  obstinate,  and  honest,  but  more  than  ordinarily 
dull  in  appreciating  an  enemy's  methods,  or  in  freeing  him- 
self from  the  precise  traditions  in  which  he  had  been  edu- 


BEGINNINGS    OF   THE    GREAT   WAR  257 

cated.  His  first  and  gravest  mistake,  however, — that  of 
underrating  his  Indian  foe,  —  is  one  that  has  been  shared  by 
many  commanders,  to  their  confusion,  and  by  many  writers. 
The  fighting  qualities  of  the  red  man  have  often  been  ill 
appreciated,  and  in  particular  he  has  been  ignorantly  accused 
of  cowardice  because  of  his  stealthy  methods  and 

J  Indian 

unwillingness  to  fight  in  the  open.     In  point  of   mode  of 
fact,  his  method  of  fighting  was  closely  adapted  to 
the  physical  conditions  of  the  American  wilderness,  and  it 
was  just  what  was  produced  by  survival  of  the  fittest  during 
thousands  of  years  of  warfare  under  such  conditions.    When 
white  men  came  to  America,  they  were  at  first  able  to  wreak 
wholesale  destruction   upon  the  natives  without  regard   to 
numbers  or  conditions.     Such  was  the  case  when  the  Pe- 
quots,  the   Stamford   Indians,  and  the  Narragansetts  were 
swept  out  of  existence.1     This  was  largely  because  of  the 
European  superiority  in  arms,  but  in  later  days,  when  this 
disparity  had  been  done  away  with,  white  men  were  apt  to 
find  Indians  quite  as  formidable  enemies  as  they  cared  to 
deal  with,  and  in  order  to  achieve  success  it  was  found  ne- 
cessary to  adopt  the  Indian  methods,  abandoning  solid  col- 
umns and  lines  of  battle,  so  as  to  fight  in  loose  order  and 
behind  trees  or  earthworks.     It  is  interesting  to  see  that  in 
these  later  days  when  the  increase  in  the   power   Enfflish 
and  precision  of  death-dealing  weapons  has  greatly   regulars 
increased  the  dangerousness  of  the  battlefield,  there   for  such 
has  been  a  tendency  to  recur  to  Indian  methods 
in  so  far  as  concerns  looseness  of  order  and  the  use  of  vari- 
ous kinds  of  cover.     In   the  eighteenth  century  there  was 
nobody  so  ill  fitted  to  fight  with  Indians  as  a  European  reg- 
ular, trained  in  European  manuals  of  war  and  inured  to  Eu- 
ropean discipline.     Braddock's  fatuity  was  well  illustrated  in 
his  reply  to  Dr.  Franklin,  when  the  latter  informed  him  that 

1  [Fiske,  The  Beginnings  of  New  England,  Illustrated  Edition,  pp. 
140,  250.] 


258      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

the  Indians,  as  antagonists,  were  by  no  means  to  be  despised  : 
"  These  savages  may,  indeed,"  said  Braddock,  "be  a  formid- 
able enemy  to  your  raw  American  militia,  but  upon  the  king's 
regular  and  disciplined  troops,  sir,  it  is  impossible  that  they 
should  make  any  impression."  : 

Many  stories  of  Braddock's  arrogance  and  ill-temper  have 
come  down  to  us,  but  if  we  consider  the  obstacles  that  were 
thrown  in  the  way  of  military  promptness,  by  which  zealous 
Braddock's  men  like  Shirley  and  Dinwiddie  were  so  often 
goaded  to  anger,  we  need  not  wonder  that  Brad- 
dock's temper  was  sometimes  not  altogether  at  its  best.  He 
scolded  a  good  deal  about  the  legislatures,  and  sometimes 
let  fall  exasperating  remarks  about  the  lack  of  zeal  and  rec- 
titude in  public  servants.  For  such  insinuations  there  was 
sometimes  apparent  ground,  especially  when  the  member 
of  a  legislature  showed  himself  more  intent  upon  annoying 
the  governor  than  upon  attacking  the  enemy. 

The  energetic  Shirley  made  a  visit  to  Braddock's  camp  at 
Alexandria,  in  the  course  of  which  a  comprehensive  plan  of 
procedure  was  agreed  upon,  which  involved  operations  on  the 
Niagara  River  and  Lake  Champlain  and  the  northeastern 
frontier  as  well  as  in  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  For  the 
present  we  will  confine  our  story  to  the  latter. 

At  the  outset  a  mistake  was  made  in  the  choice  of  a  route. 
For  a  force  like  Braddock's,  wagons  were  indispensable,  and 
wagons  were  far  more  common  in  Pennsylvania  than  in  Vir- 
ginia. A  route  corresponding  with  the  general  direction  of 
Braddock  tne  Pennsylvania  Railroad  would  not  only  have  been 
tended  atVe  mucn  snorter  tnan  the  route  through  Virginia,  but 
Phiiadei-       it  would  have  been,  at  least  in  its  earlier  stages,  a 

phia 

route  through  a  population  which  could  furnish 
wagons.  By  adopting  this  route  Braddock  would  have  made 
the  Pennsylvanians  feel  some  personal  interest  in  the  acquisi- 

1  [Life  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  written  by  himself.  Edited  by  John 
Bigelow,  Philadelphia,  1884,  i.  425.] 


BEGINNINGS    OF   THE    GREAT   WAR  259 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN 


tion  of  Fort  Duquesne ;  whereas,  when  he  decided  to  march 
through  Virginia  it  only  tended  to  confirm  Pennsylvanians 
in  the  impression  that  Fort  Duquesne,  if  conquered,  was  to 
pass  into  Virginian  hands.  After  a  while  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin went  about  among  the  farmers,  and  by  pledging  his  own 
personal  credit  obtained  a  fair  supply  of  horses  and  wagons.1 

1  \_Life  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  etc.,  edited  by  John  Bigelow,  i.  322.] 


2<5o  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

Braddock' s  force  at  length  set  out  in  detachments  and 
marched  along  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  River  to  the  old 
trading  station  of  the  Ohio  Company  known  as  Will's  Creek. 
It  had  lately  been  fortified,  and  received  the  name  of  Fort 
Cumberland.  This  was  the  rendezvous  of  the  army.  The 
two  regiments  from  England  had  been  increased  by  further 
enlistments  in  Virginia  of  nine  companies  of  militia  of  fifty 
men  each  to  a  total  of  fourteen  hundred  men.  Braddock 
despised  these  militia,  and  had  small  respect  either  for  par- 
tisan guerilla  forces  or  for  Indian  auxiliaries.  The  services 
of  the  chief  Scarroyaddy,  or  of  the  noted  frontiersman  Black 
Jack,  were  at  his  disposal  at  the  cost  of  a  few  civil  words 
only,  but  he  treated  these  worthies  so  superciliously  that 
they  went  off  on  business  of  their  own. 

In  spite  of  these  instances  of  indiscretion,  however,  it  is 
not  correct  to  say,  as  has  often  been  said,  that  Braddock 
neglected  all  precaution  and  was  drawn  into  an  am- 
buscade. Such  statements  are  samples  of  the  kind 
of  exaggeration  that  is  apt  to  grow  up  about  events  that 
create  great  public  excitement.  Braddock  made  mistakes 
enough,  but  he  was  not  absolutely  a  fool.  During  the  whole 
of  the  march  flanking  parties  were  kept  out  on  each  side  of 
the  creeping  column,  while  scouts  in  all  directions  ranged 
through  the  depths  of  the  woods.  The  column,  which  con- 
sisted of  about  twenty-two  hundred  men,  sometimes  extended 
for  four  miles  along  a  road  hardly  fit  to  be  called  a  bridle- 
path, on  the  average  scarcely  four  yards  in  width.  The  march 
began  on  June  10,  and  eight  days  later  the  force  had  advanced 
only  thirty  miles  from  Fort  Cumberland.  By  that  time  the 
rear  of  the  column  was  so  heavily  encumbered  with  sick  men 
that  its  power  of  marching  had  almost  come  to  an  end.  It 
a  detach-  was  therefore  decided  to  leave  with  the  rear  col- 
™nin Sent  umn °*  about  one  thousand  men  most  of  the  heavier 
advance  wagons  and  other  impedimenta,  and  to  proceed 
somewhat  more  quickly  toward  Fort  Duquesne  with  an  ad- 


BEGINNINGS    OF    THE    GREAT   WAR  261 

vance  guard  of  twelve  hundred.  But  in  spite  of  this  diminu- 
tion of  labour,  the  difficulties  of  the  road  were  such  that  the 
7th  of  July  had  arrived  when  the  advance  column  approached 
Turtle  Creek,  a  stream  that  flows  into  the  Monongahela  about 
eight  miles  south  of  Fort  Duquesne.  Meanwhile,  its  pro- 
gress had  been  detected  and  watched,  as  was  to  have  been 
expected,  by  French  and  Indian  scouts.  At  the  fortress 
Contrecceur  still  governed,  with  Beaujeu  second  in  command. 
The  force  consisted  of  five  or  six  hundred  Frenchmen,  partly 
regulars  and  partly  Canadian  militia,  with  eight  hundred  In- 
dians, some  of  them  baptized  converts  from  the  northeast, 
some  of  them  wild  Ojibways  led  by  Charles  de  Langlade, 
the  conqueror  of  the  Demoiselle,  and  the  rest,  Ottawas  under 
their  renowned  chieftain,  the  long-headed  and  ferocious  Pon- 
tiac.  When  the  approach  of  Braddock's  column  to  the  mouth 
of  Turtle  Creek  was  announced  at  the  French  fortress  Cap- 
tain Beaujeu  volunteered  to  go  out  with  a  strong  party  and 
lay  an  ambuscade  for  the  English.  With  this  end  Beaujeu 
in  view  he  took  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  French-  ^Jiay^he 
men  and  over  six  hundred  Indians  and  stole  through  English 
the  woods  between  the  fortress  and  Turtle  Creek,  but  he 
never  succeeded  in  preparing  the  desired  ambuscade,  nor  did 
Braddock's  force  march  into  an  ambuscade,  in  any  proper 
sense  of  the  word.  So  sensible  was  Braddock  of  the  great 
danger  of  the  road  between  Turtle  Creek  and  Fort  Duquesne, 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Monongahela,  that  he  Braddock's 
forded  the  latter  stream  and  proceeded  down  the  precautions 
opposite  bank  for  five  or  six  miles,  when  he  again  crossed  the 
river  and  brought  his  column  on  to  a  rising  ground  along 
which  the  narrow  road  ran  toward  the  fortress.  His  column 
was  then  in  its  usual  condition  :  a  few  Virginian  guides  in 
front,  then  the  advance  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Thomas 
Gage,  among  whose  men  were  two  lieutenants  destined  in 
later  days  to  play  inglorious  parts, —  Horatio  Gates  and 
Charles  Lee.     Behind  Gage  came  Sir  John  St.  Clair  with  the 


262  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

working  party,  followed  by  a  couple  of  cannon,  and  these,  in 
turn,  by  the  wagons  with  powder  and  tools.  Behind  these 
came  the  principal  part  of  the  column,  while  both  flanks  and 
rear  were  very  strongly  guarded  with  flanking  parties.  The 
situation  would  not  have  been  particularly  dangerous  if  the 
British  regulars  had  known  how  to  separate  and  fight  under 
cover.  It  was  owing  to  this  internal  faultiness,  and  not  to 
any  ambush,  that  Braddock's  column  came  to  grief. 

When  the  opposing  forces  met  it  was  simply  the  meeting 
of  the  two  heads  of  columns  in  a  narrow  woodland  road. 
Who  can  ever  forget  that  moment  when  Gage's 
light  horsemen  quickly  fled  back  and  those  behind 
could  catch  a  glimpse  through  the  trees  of  a  young  French- 
man wearing  a  brilliant  red  gorget  and  bounding  lightly 
along  the  road,  till,  on  seeing  his  enemy,  he  turned  and  waved 
his  hand  ?  That  brief  glimpse  of  Captain  Beaujeu  at  the  mo- 
ment of  his  death  will  forever  live  in  history.  At  the  third 
volley  he  dropped  dead.  Gage's  men  delivered  fire  with  ad- 
mirable coolness,  but  its  effect  was  slight,  for  the  enemy,  in 
two  bifurcating  columns,  passed  to  right  and  to  left  of  the 
English,  all  the  time  pouring  in  a  galling  fire  from  behind 
trees  and  bushes.  Never  were  the  conditions  of  a  battle 
more  simple.  The  English  were  torn  to  pieces  because  they 
stood  in  solid  line  where  they  could  be  seen ;  and  if  any- 
thing were  needed  to  make  it  impossible  to  miss  them,  it  was 
their  bright  scarlet  coats.  On  the  other  hand,  no  matter 
The  how  diligently  the  British  loaded  and  fired,  they 

^nSbeSfore  could  see  nothing  to  aim  at.  One  officer  who  had 
unseen  foes  Deen  jn  tne  thickest  of  the  fight,  literally  wedged 
in  among  falling  bodies,  said  after  the  battle  that  he  had  not 
caught  sight  of  an  Indian  during  the  whole  of  the  battle. 
They  were  fighting  simply  against  puffs  of  smoke  which 
seemed  to  come  from  all  points  of  the  compass.  For  a  time 
the  cannon  were  diligently  plied  and  split  many  tree  trunks. 
Many  of  the  regulars  fired  wildly  and  hit  their  own  comrades. 


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264  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

The  Virginians,  who  scattered  and  fought  in  Indian  fashion, 
suffered  but  little  and  did  more  than  their  share  of  execution. 
Some  of  the  regulars  tried  to  imitate  these  tactics,  but  wher- 
ever Braddock  saw  anything  of  the  sort  going  on  he  would 
Bravery  of  strike  them  with  the  flat  of  his  sword  and  force  them 
fnddw°aCsh-  Dack  into  the  ranks.  As  for  the  general  himself, 
mgton  hg  performeci  prodigies  of  valour,  and  was  forever 

in  the  most  exposed  places,  while  he  had  four  horses  shot 
under  him  and  at  last  fell  from  the  fifth  with  one  of  his  lungs 
badly  torn  by  a  bullet.  Washington's  fighting  was  equally 
desperate.  Two  horses  were  killed  under  him  and  his  clothes 
were  partly  torn  from  his  back  by  bullets.  He  seemed  to 
bear  a  charmed  life.  It  is  needless  to  enlarge  further  upon 
such  a  scene.  Let  it  suffice  to  say,  that  out  of  a  total  force 
of  thirteen  hundred  and  seventy-three  all  but  four  hundred 
and  fifty-nine  were  killed  or  wounded  ;  and  in  addition  to 
these,  out  of  eighty-six  officers  only  twenty-three  escaped 
unhurt.  The  whole  affair  was  as  thickly  fraught  with  horror 
as  anything  that  is  likely  to  happen  in  modern  warfare.  The 
utter  fatuity  of  the  affair,  the  hopeless  feeling  of  brave  men 
drawn  up  for  slaughter  without  understanding  the  means  of 
defence,  has  in  it  something  peculiarly  intolerable.  The  gal- 
Braddock's  ^ant  Braddock,  as  he  lay  half-dazed  upon  his  death- 
death  Deci)  was  heard  to  murmur,  "  Who  would  ever  have 
thought  it?"  and  again,  after  an  interval,  "We  shall  know 
better  how  to  do  it  next  time."  1 

The  skilful  retreat  from  this  field  of  blood  added  much  to 
the  credit  of  the  youthful  Washington,  and  marked  him  out 

as  an  officer  likely  to  have  a  brilliant  future.     As 
culpable        for  the  rear  column,  which  had  been  left  under 

command  of  Colonel  Dunbar,  it  retreated  to  Fort 

Cumberland,  and  presently  abandoned  the  campaign,  a  most 

ill-judged  and  reprehensible  proceeding  which  threw  open  the 

frontier  to  all  the  horrors  of  Indian  invasion.     The  events  of 

1  [Life  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  written  by  himself  i.  327.] 


BEGINNINGS    OF    THE    GREAT   WAR  265 

the  past  twelve  months  had  done  all  that  twelve  months 
could  do  in  destroying  the  influence  of  the  English  among 
the  Ohio  tribes.  Washington's  disaster  at  Great  Meadows 
had  gone  far  toward  undermining  their  allegiance,  Brad- 
dock's  insolence  had  seasoned  their  contempt  with  a  spice 
of  anger,  and  now  at  last  this  headlong  overthrow  of  an 
English  army  had  convinced  the  red  men  that  good  medicine 
was  all  on  the  side  of  the  Great  White  Father  on  the  St. 
Lawrence. 

Thus  inauspiciously  for  the  English  began  the  mighty  war 
that  was  to  put  an  end  to  the  dominion  of  Frenchmen  in 
America,  yet  it  must  be  remembered  that  no  declaration  of 
war  had  as  yet  been  made  public.  These  deeds  of  blood 
were  the  deeds  of  a  time  of  so-called  peace.1 

1  [For  the  literature  of  Braddock's  march  and  defeat,  see  Winsor, 
Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist.,  v.  575-580.] 


CHAPTER    IX 


CROWN    POINT,    FORT    WILLIAM    HENRY,    AND    TICONDEROGA 


While  General  Braddock  was  at  Williamsburg  in  the 
spring  of  1755,  discussing  plans  for  the  summer,  he  was 
Governor  visited  by  Governor  Shirley,  and  a  very  extensive 
Diarfof'8  scheme  of  campaigning  was  laid  out.  While  Brad- 
campaign  dock  was  to  advance  against  Fort  Duquesne,  Shir- 
ley was  to  conduct  a  force,  consisting  largely  of  New  England 
troops,  to  the  Niagara  River  by  way  of  the  Mohawk  valley 

and  Oswego.  At  the 
same  time  a  force  com- 
manded by  William 
Johnson  was  to  wrest 
from  the  French  the 
control  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  and  yet  another 
force  under  Colonel 
Monckton  was  to 
proceed  against  the 
French  on  the  Aca- 
dian frontier.  The 
expedition  against  Ni- 
agara was  to  be  com- 
manded by  Shirley 
himself,  and  he  also 
undertook  to  provide 
a  leader  for  the  oper- 
ations against  Crown  Point.  Few  royal  governors  had  so 
much  success  in  dealing  with  their  legislatures  as  Shirley, 


ROBERT  MONCKTON 


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FACSIMILE    OF    LETTER    OF    ROBERT    MONCKTON 


268  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

who  was  conspicuous  for  moderation  and  tact.  He  knew 
how  to  make  his  demands  seem  reasonable  in  amount,  and 
he  knew  how  to  urge  them  so  gracefully  as  to  make  it  hard 
to  refuse  them.  In  the  present  instance  he  had  to  deal 
with  the  four  New  England  colonies  and  New  York ;  and 
he  understood  very  well  that  he  could  not  appoint  a  com- 
mander from  any  one  of  the  New  England  commonwealths 
without  offending  the  other  three.  But  against  the  appoint- 
ment of  William  Johnson  nothing  could  very  well  be  said, 
since  the  aid  of  the  Iroquois  seemed  important  and  John- 
son's influence  over  them  was  well  known.  Besides,  the  ex- 
pedition was  to  be  directed  toward  points  in  the  Mohawk 
country.  For  these  reasons  Shirley  selected  John- 
johnson        son    to    command    the   movement   against   Crown 

t()  3.ttnclc 

Crown  Point,  and  it  proved  a  good  selection.     It  greatly 

pleased  New  York  and  the  Long  House,  and  no 
serious  objection  was  made  in  New  England  except  that 
Connecticut  insisted  that  one  of  her  own  officers,  Phineas 
Lyman,  should  be  second  in  command,  and  this,  too,  was  a 
good  selection.  There  was  much  delay,  owing  to  the  neces- 
sity for  communicating 
with  five  different  legis- 
latures, and  the  larger  (J^Lg ?/ f7^&7\ 
part  of  the  summer  had 
passed  away  before  any- 
thing was  accomplished.  The  sad  news  of  Braddock's  defeat 
came  like  an  augury  of  disaster  to  Johnson  and  his  men  as 
they  were  approaching  the  upper  waters  of  the  Hudson  in 
August.  Along  with  this  news  came  a  report  from  the  north 
that  the  French  were  coming  with  eight  thousand  men  to 
defend  Lake  Champlain. 

Johnson's  little  army  consisted  almost  entirely  of  New 
England  yeomanry,  many  of  whom  were  now  for  the  first 
character      time  in  training  for  the  tasks  that  awaited  them  in 

of  John-  ii.  i 

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CROWN    POINT  269 

names  afterward  so  important  as  those  of  Seth  Pomeroy, 
Israel  Putnam,  and  John  Stark.  The  training  now  gained 
by  these  men  and  their  comrades  made  veterans  of  them 
for  the  opening  scene  of  the  later  war. 

The  movements  were  slow  and  the  delays  incessant,  partly 
because  the  business  of  moving  an  army  was  so  ill  under- 
stood. Cannon,  ammunition,  and  camp  kettles  would  be 
forgotten  and  left  on  the  way ;  wagons  would  not  arrive  at 
the  right  time,  either  because  distances  had  been  miscalcu- 
lated, or  because  the  wagoners  were  disappointed  of  their 
pay  and  spiteful  ;  the  stock  of  bullets  delivered  to  a  regiment 
would  not  fit  their  muskets  ;  stores  of  food  were  delayed  un- 
til men  were  oppressed  with  hunger  ;  and  so  on  through  the 
usual  list  of  mishaps  attendant  upon  bad  logistics.  By  the 
third  week  in  August  this  New  England  army  had  arrived  at 
a  point  on  the  Hudson  River  where  a  fortress  then  partly 
built  was  called  Fort  Lyman,  a  place  which  afterward  acquired 
celebrity  as  Fort  Edward.  There  they  were  joined  by  three 
hundred  Mohawks.  From  Fort  Lyman  to  Crown  Point  two 
routes  were  available  :  one  by  way  of  Lake  George,  the  other 
by  way  of  Wood  Creek,  which  emptied  into  the  long,  narrow 
head  of  Lake  Champlain.  These  two  routes  united  at  Ticon- 
deroga,  about  twenty-five  miles  south  of  Crown  Point.  After 
some  discussion  it  was  decided  to  follow  the  route  by  Lake 
George,  which  was  then  known  by  its  French  name  of  Lake 
Sacrement,  but   Johnson  gave  it  the  name  of  the 

-r,    .    .  .  .  .  Johnson 

British  king,  partly  by  way  of  asserting  his  domin-   names  Lake 
ion  over  it.     Leaving  five  hundred  men  to  complete 
Fort  Lyman,  Johnson  moved  with  the  other  two  thousand 
to  the  head  of  Lake  George,  and  encamped  there. 

Meanwhile,. the  French  commander,  Baron  Dieskau,  had 
arrived  at  Crown  Point  with  a  force  of  more  than  thirty-five 
hundred  men,  and  decided  to  push  forward  and  find    Dieskau.s 
the  enemy.     At  Ticonderoga  he  received  informa-    aPProach 
tion  from  an  English  prisoner  which  was  intended  to  draw 


270      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

him  into  a  trap.  The  prisoner  informed  him  that  five  hun- 
dred of  the  New  England  army  were  at  Fort  Lyman,  but 
the  remainder  had  for  some  unknown  reason  turned  back  and 
retreated  upon  Albany.  This  story  seemed  to  offer  to  Die- 
skau  an  easy  conquest  of  Fort  Lyman,  and  he  pursued  his 
way  with  all  haste  southward  by  Lake  Champlain  to  what 
was  called  the  South  Bay,  the  head  of  which  was  about  half- 
.  way  between  Wood  Creek 

A    £)Ct)r0)t*.  at  tytyiks^    and  Lake  George.    Thence 

*  he  marched  directly  toward 

Fort  Lyman,  and  had  arrived  within  four  miles  of  it  when 
he  captured  a  letter  which  disclosed  the  truth,  that  the  prin- 
cipal body  of  New  Englanders  were  encamped  at  the  head 
of  Lake  George.  Dieskau  had  with  him  six  hundred  Indians 
The  Indians  under  Legardeur  de  Saint-Pierre,  and  these  allies 
attack  the  suggested  that  they  would  greatly  prefer  to  attack 
camp  the  open  camp  rather  than  the  fort.     Indians,  in- 

deed, had  no  love  for  encountering  cannon.  When  it  was 
objected  that  there  seemed  to  be  more  English  in  the  open 
camp  than  in  the  fort,  it  was  replied  that  the  English  were 
wretched  fighters,  and  would  think  of  nothing  but  running 
away.  The  victory  over  Braddock  was  cited  with  exultation, 
and  several  painted  chieftains  yelped  with  delight  as  they 
assured  Dieskau  that  the  more  English  there  were  in  the 
camp  the  more  scalps  there  would  be  to  bring  away.  Thus 
persuaded,  if  not  convinced,  Dieskau  gave  orders  to  march 
directly  upon  Lake  George. 

Meanwhile  in  Johnson's  camp,  when  scouts  announced 
the  approach  of  a  large  French  force,  its  size  was  underesti- 
mated, and  at  first  two  parties,  each  of  five  hundred  men, 
were  ordered  out  by  different  trails  to  attack  it.  Then  the 
The  Eng-  veteran  Mohawk  chief  Hendrick  picked  up  a  couple 
hsh  scout-      0£  stout  sticks  and  tried  in  vain  to  break  them,  but 

ing  party  ' 

routed  immediately  thereafter  took  them  separately  and 

broke  them  with  ease.     "  Very  well,"  quoth  Johnson,  "  let 


CROWN    POINT  271 

them  take  the  same  trail."  But  even  now  the  old  redskin 
was  not  quite  satisfied.  "  If  their  aim  is  victory,"  he  said, 
"  there  are  not  enough  of  them  ;  but  if  they  are  going  to 
be  defeated,  there  are  too  many  to  lose."  The  upshot  was 
that  Dieskau,  receiving  intelligence  of  this  advancing  party, 
laid  an  ambush  and  inflicted  upon  it  a  severe  defeat,  in  which 
the  veteran  Hendrick  and  many  well-known  New  England 
officers  were  killed. 

Emboldened  by  this  success,  and  half  believing  the  slan- 
ders against  English  courage,  Dieskau  pressed  on  to  attack 
Johnson's  camp,  but  the  latter  was  strongly  fortified  with 
earthworks  and  with  trunks  of  fallen  trees.  The  Dieskau 
most  desperate  efforts  of  the  French  to  carry  the  andUlse 
place  by  storm  were  fruitless,  and  after  they  had  caPtured 
fought  until  their  strength  was  nearly  exhausted,  the  New 
Englanders  came  leaping  over  the  works  in  a  deadly  charge, 
and  the  Frenchmen  were  driven  from  the  field  with  heavy 
slaughter.  Among  the  killed  was  the  Chevalier  de  Saint- 
Pierre,  whose  interview  with  George  Washington  at  Fort  Le 
Bceuf  had  been  the  opening  scene  of  this  great  drama. 
Dieskau  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner,  and  Johnson's 
Mohawks  were  furiously  eager  to  burn  him,  but  the  Irishman 
treated  him  with  great  kindness  and  courtesy,  and  assured 
him,  "  They  will  not  burn  you  until  they  burn  me  with 
you." 

There  is  not  time  to  go  into  the  disputed  questions  which 
cluster  about  this  as  about  most  battles.  New  England  men 
have  claimed  the  chief  credit  for  Lyman,1  to  whom  they 
allege  that  Johnson  never  did  justice  ;  and  I  am  inclined  to 
think  this  judgment  is,  on  the  whole,  well  supported.  The 
chief  credit  at  the  time  accrued  to  Johnson,  and  the  prompt- 
ness of  his  reward  is  an  index  to  the  chagrin  which  was 
felt  in  England  over  the  defeat  of  Braddock.  Johnson  was 
at  once  made  a  baronet.  As  for  the  victory,  it  would  have 
1  [Cf.  Dwight's  Travels,  iii.  367-370.] 


272  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

been  a  very  important  one  if  Johnson  had  followed  it  up  and 
destroyed  the  enemy's  force.  Much  fault  was  found  with 
him  for  not  doing  this,  but,  as  has  often  happened  in  such 
cases,  the  reasons  for  his  inaction  are  not  easy  to  explain. 


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^  ky~*&  <**>"*  *-?+*?  f <¥***«  '/** 


GOVERNOR    SHIRLEY'S   COMMISSION   TO   TAWENOC 

With  the  victory,  such  as  it  was,  the  English  were  obliged 
to  rest  content  for  some  time  to  come.     For  Shir- 

Shirley's 

expedition  ley's  expedition  against  Niagara  was  a  complete 
Niagara  failure.  Shirley  penetrated  the  New  York  wil- 
derness as  far  as  Oswego,  from  which  it  was  pos- 
sible to  reach  the  Niagara  River  in  boats  in  the  course  of 
five  or  six  days.  But  there  was  a  French  force  of  fourteen 
hundred  men  at  Fort  Frontenac.  This  was  about  equal  to 
Shirley's  full  force.  If  he  were  to  leave  men  enough  at 
Oswego  to  defend  the  works,  he  would  not  be  able  to  go  on 
with  force  enough  to  accomplish  his  object  ;  but  if  he  were 
to  proceed  westward  with  his  full  force,  the  French  from 
Fort  Frontenac  would  at  once  capture  Oswego  and  expose 
him  to  starvation.  There  was  no  escape  from  the  dilemma, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  abandon  the  campaign. 


CROWN    POINT  273 

The  winter  which  followed  was  one  of  such  misery  on 
the  frontiers  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  as  had  never  been 
witnessed  before.     Firebrand  and  tomahawk  were    _     ,   . 

Desolation 

perpetually  busy,  and  it  proved  impossible  to  con-   on  the 
centrate  forces  in  such  way  as  to  deal  with  the 
horror.     It  was  a  winter  of  bitter  contention  in  legislatures, 
and  of  gloom  and  fault-finding  everywhere. 

At  last,  in  May,  1756,  nearly  two  years  after  Washington's 
little  campaign  at  Great  Meadows,  England  declared  war 
against  France,  and  the  most  memorable  war  of  modern  times 
was  begun.     Frederick  of  Prussia,  in  beginning  to    ^ 

£>  j  o  o  Opening  of 

build  up  a  modern  Germany  out  of  the  soundest    the  Seven 

r  J  .  Years'  War 

elements  that  had  survived  the  general  devastation 
of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  had  contrived  to  enlist  against 
himself  a  powerful  coalition.  By  his  seizure  of  Silesia  he 
had  made  a  permanent  enemy  of  Austria.  Maria  The- 
resa, having  failed  to  recover  Silesia  in  the  recent  war,  was 
ready  to  try  again  ;  and  she  found  a  formidable  ally  in  Eliza- 
beth of  Russia,  who  was  ready  to  attack  Prussia  for  various 
reasons,  all  of  them  sharpened  and  embittered  by  the  dead- 
liest of  insults  when  Frederick  had  called  her  by  an  epithet 
that  was  strictly  true.  To  these  two  powers  was  added  that 
of  France,  which  was  coming  to  forbode  more  danger  from 
Prussia  than  from  Austria.  In  such  a  combination  the  alli- 
ance of  England  with  Prussia  was  marked  out 
by  all  sound  policy.  From  the  narrowest  point  of  and  Prussia 
view,  George  II.  would  find  his  principality  of  Han- 
over thus  better  protected,  while  from  the.  widest  point  of 
view,  the  contest  for  colonial  empire  could  best  be  carried  on 
while  the  military  strength  of  France  was  largely  absorbed 
in  warfare  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  The  English  trea- 
sury was  thus  the  mainstay  of  Frederick  the  Great,  who  put 
every  penny  of  the  money  thus  received  to  the  best  possible 
use  by  sustaining  single-handed  a  victorious  contest  against 


274  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

Russia,  Austria,  and  France.1  While  Frederick  was  winning 
some  of  the  most  astonishing  victories  the  world  has  seen,  and 
keeping  his  three  antagonists  at  bay,  the  fight  for  control  of 
the  colonial  world  was  carried  on  by  England  with  great  ad- 
vantage against  France  in  North  America  and  in  Hindostan. 
It  was  not  in  a  moment,  however,  that  the  English  world 
reaped  the  advantages  of  this  new  combination  of  forces,  for 
it  happened  that  the  choice  made  by  the  French  minister  for 
a  commander-in-chief  in  America  proved  to  be  exceptionally 
fortunate.     The  appointment  of  Louis  Joseph,  Mar- 

Montcalm  ,       _  _  .  .  r 

quis  cle  Montcalm,  was  an  appointment  for  long- 
tried  merit.  He  was  forty-four  years  of  age,  having  been 
born  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Nimes  in  17 12.  He  had  an 
excellent  education,  especially  in  Greek  and  Latin  classics 
and  philology,  and  his  literary  tastes  were  such  that  one  of 
the  great  objects  of  his  ambition  was  to  become  a  member 
of  the  Academy.  In  his  leisure  moments  he  was  always 
engaged  in  reading  and  study.  During  the  war  of  the  Aus- 
trian Succession  he  had  served  with  great  distinction,  and 
he  was  recognized  by  competent  judges  as  one  of  the  ablest 
officers  in  the  French  service.  When  he  came  to  America 
he  left  behind  him  in  his  charming  country  home  at  Cancliac, 
near  Nimes,  a  wife  and  six  children,  besides  his  mother. 
Montcalm  was  a  man  of  strong  family  affections  and  intense 
love  of  home,  as  we  see  from  many  charming  allusions  in  his 
journal  and  letters  while  campaigning  in  the  New  World. 

His  voyage  of  nearly  six  weeks  was  a  rough  one,  and 
sometimes  dangerous.  In  a  letter  to  his  wife  he  says  :  "  The 
Montcalm's  forecastle  was  always  under  water,  and  the  waves 
STvSyage  broke  twice  over  the  quarter-deck.  From  the  2 2d 
to  Canada  0f  April  to  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  May  we  had 
fogs,  great  cold,  and  an  amazing  quantity  of  icebergs.     On 

1  [For  the  diplomatic  changes  which  preceded  the  Seven  Years' 
War,  see  Perkins's  France  under  Louis  XV.,  ii.  1-84,  or  Tuttle,  History 
of  Prussia  under  Frederic  the  Great,  ii.  234-321.] 


CROWN    POINT  275 

the  30th,  when  luckily  the  fog  lifted  for  a  time,  we  counted 
sixteen  of  them.  The  day  before,  one  drifted  under  the 
bowsprit,  grazed  it,  and  might  have  crushed  us  if  the  deck- 
officer  had  not  called  out  quickly,  Luff.  After  speaking  of 
our  troubles  and  sufferings,  I  must  tell  you  of  our  pleasures, 
which  were  fishing  for  cod  and  eating  it.  The  taste  is  ex- 
quisite. The  head,  tongue,  and  liver  are  morsels  worthy  of 
an  epicure.  Still,  I  would  not  advise  anybody  to  make  the 
voyage  for  their  sake.  My  health  is  as  good  as  it  has  been 
for  a  long  time.  I  found  it  a  good  plan  to  eat  little  and  take 
no  supper  ;  a  little  tea  now  and  then,  and  plenty  of  lemon- 
ade. Nevertheless  I  have  taken  very  little  liking  for  the 
sea,  and  think  that  when  I  shall  be  so  happy  as  to  rejoin  you 
I  shall  end  my  voyages  there.  I  don't  know  when  this  letter 
will  go.  I  shall  send  it  by  the  first  ship  that  returns  to 
France,  and  keep  on  writing  till  then.  It  is  pleasant,  I 
know,  to  hear  particulars  about  the  people  one  loves,  and  I 
thought  that  my  mother  and  you,  my  dearest  and  most  be- 
loved, would  be  glad  to  read  all  these  dull  details.  We  heard 
mass  on  Easter  Day.  All  the  week  before,  it  was  impossi- 
ble, because  the  ship  rolled  so  that  I  could  hardly  keep  my 
legs.  If  I  had  dared,  I  think  I  should  have  had  myself 
lashed  fast.     I  shall  not  soon  forget  that  Holy  Week."  1 

When   Montcalm   arrived  in  Montreal,  his  reception   by 
Governor  Vaudreuil  was  far  from  cordial.     Vau- 

Vaudreuil 

dreuil  aspired  to  military  fame,  and  thought  himself   not  gratified 

..  .,.  1  by  Mont- 

competent  to  direct  military  operations  on  a  large   calm's 

scale  as  well  as  to  command  either  Canadian  militia 
or  French  regulars.  He  liked,  moreover,  to  have  everything 
his  own  way,  and  knew  very  well  that  he  was  not  likely 
always  to  prevail  over  a  strong-willed  and  energetic  general- 
in-chief.  Besides,  Vaudreuil  was  a  native  of  Canada,  having 
been  born  there  during  his  father's  administration,  and  be- 
tween Canadians  and  Frenchmen  from  the  old  country  there 
1  [Parkman,  Montcalm  and  IVolfe,  i.  364,  365.] 


276      NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 

was  somewhat  the  same  kind  of  jealousy  that  existed  between 
Americans  and  British.  The  coldness  between  Montcalm 
and  the  governor  sometimes  had  an  ill  effect  upon  the  French 
operations. 

Nevertheless  the  arrival  of  Montcalm  was  soon  signalized 
by  a  heavy  blow  to  the  English.  In  a  certain  sense  the  blow 
was  prepared  by  the  English  themselves.  We  have  seen  how 
Shirley's  expedition  had  been  turned  back  at  Oswego  by 
French  demonstrations  from  Fort  Frontenac.  Such  a  failure 
was  of  course  inevitable  for  any  expedition  directed  against 
Niagara,  unless  Fort  Frontenac  were  first  captured.  After 
Shirley  Shirley's  return  to  New  York  the  general  discon- 

superseded  tent  assumed  the  form  of  a  quarrel  between  him 
and  Johnson,  and  several  persons  of  influence  in  New  York 
wrote  to  the  minister  requesting  that  another  commander- 
in-chief  be  appointed  in  his  stead.  The  ministry  replied  by 
appointing  John  Campbell,  Earl  of  Loudoun,  to  the  chief  com- 
mand in  America ;  but  as  this  particular  Campbell  was  slow 
in  coming,  they  sent  General  James  Abercrombie  in  advance 
of  him,  and  as  Abercrombie  was  not  quite  ready,  they  sent 
Colonel  Daniel  Webb ;  insomuch  that  Shirley,  who  was  just 
preparing  a  new  campaign  against  Oswego,  had  to  turn  over 
the  command  to  Webb,  who  turned  it  over  to  Abercrombie, 
who  turned  it  over  to  Loudoun,  —  and  so  much  swapping  of 
horses  in  mid-stream,  as  President  Lincoln  would  have  said, 
was  not  conducive  to  promptness  and  unity  of  operation. 
As  for  the  new  commander-in-chief,  he  was  as  poor  a  choice 
The  Earl  of  as  C0iud  have  been  made.  Shirley  was  a  mere 
Loudoun  amateur  soldier,  but  he  had  courage,  quickness, 
and  discretion.  Loudoun,  on  the  other  hand,  was  dull, 
sleepy,  and  irresolute,  —  the  kind  of  man  who  would  be 
likely  to  stop  halfway  in  any  important  undertaking.  Dr. 
Franklin  summed  him  up  very  well  when  he  compared  him 
to  Saint  George  on  the  tavern  signboards,  always  on  horse- 
back, but  never  getting  ahead. 


CROWN    POINT  277 

The  effect  of  the  arrivals  of  Webb  and  Abercrombie  was  to 
delay  an  expedition  which  Shirley  would  have  sent  to  Oswego 
in  the  hope  of  moving  from  that  point  against  Fort    Loudoun 
Frontenac.     When  Loudoun  arrived,  late  in  July,    attac^Ti- 
he  determined  to  concentrate   his  efforts  against   conder°ga 
Ticonderoga,  where  the  French  had  erected  a  new  fortress, 
and  to  content  himself  on  Lake  Ontario  by  merely  holding 


EARL    OF    LOUDOUN 


Oswego.  Having  thus  decided,  he  allowed  time  to  slip  away 
without  reinforcing  Oswego.  This  was  bad  generalship,  since 
if  the  French  were  to  take  Oswego,  they  would  not  only  cut 
off  the  English  from  Niagara  but  would  have  their  hands  free 
to  concentrate  against  them  at  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point. 


278  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

After  Loudoun's  arrival  at  Albany,  all  operations  were  brought 
to  a  standstill  by  a  silly  order  of  the  king  in  council  that  all 
generals  and  colonels  holding  commissions  from  the  colonial 
governments  should  rank  only  on  the  level  of  senior  captains. 
Such  an  arrangement  might  have  put  the  entire  provincial 
army  under  the  command  of  a  British  major.  While  hot 
disputes  were  raging  over  this  matter,  Loudoun  suddenly  re- 
membered the  need  of  Oswego  and  sent  Webb  in  all  haste 
with  reinforcements,  but  this  hurry  at  the  eleventh  hour  was 
unavailing.  When  Webb  arrived  at  the  great  portage  be- 
tween the  Mohawk  valley  and  Lake  Ontario,  about  where 
Fort  Stanwix  was  afterwards  built,  and  near  the  site  of  the 
Fail  of  present  city  of  Rome,  he  learned  with  dismay  that 
swego  Montcalm  had  captured  Oswego.  It  was  even  so. 
While  Loudoun  had  been  dawdling,  Montcalm  had  been  act- 
ing. He  had  crossed  from  Fort  Frontenac,  invested  Oswego, 
and  pressed  the  siege  so  vigorously  that  the  garrison  of  four- 
teen hundred  men  with  two  or  three  hundred  non-combatants 
surrendered,  prisoners  of  war.  Among  the  spoils  were  more 
than  a  hundred  light  cannon.  Here  something  occurred  which 
was  ominous  of  future  horror.  A  few  of  Montcalm's  Indians 
began  murdering  prisoners,  and  it  was  only  with  great  diffi- 
culty and  by  making  lavish  promises  that  he  succeeded  in 
restraining  those  painted  demons.  He  reckoned  that  the 
presents  to  be  given  them  as  a  ransom  for  the  prisoners 
would  amount  to  ten  or  twelve  thousand  livres. 

The  following  winter  witnessed  many  scenes  of  partisan 
warfare  which  we  need  not  here  stop  to  describe.  The  sum- 
mer of  1757  found  things  looking  ill  for  the  English  cause. 
The  French  had  destroyed  Oswego,  which  was  for  them  an 
outpost  dangerously  near  the  strongholds  of  the  Six  Nations, 
but  while  they  held  Fort  Frontenac  they  could  prevent  the 
English  from  reaching  the  Niagara  River,  and  this  fact, 
together  with  their  possession  of  Fort  Duquesne,  seemed 
to  have  given  them  the  victory  so  far  as  the  whole  interior 


c  t  ••  * 


CROWN    POINT  279 


t  .<  ~  r , *-■?><  <>■ 


Tf-* 


■      -----      ^c\- 

•^^P     *i 

n  /?               0       n 

/<-   >W.  _<J'.    £U  r  .-<■  it 

,.   .  6  I    J 

/-,      if*.    /,-**•  ->  -*''-•  > 

.  '^  c-    c-;\  a  ,  &-r  '•'•> 

?^JS^ 

^^     ^      A  «->#>*    <<     . 

/ 

/ 


FACSIMILE    OF    LETTER    FROM    LOUDOUN    TO   JOHNSON 

of  the  continent  was  concerned.  The  effect  of  the  capture 
of  Oswego  upon  the  Indians  was  very  great.  One  Montca]m<s 
day  a  party  from  Lake  Superior  came  to  see  Mont-   capture  of 

,  ,      ,.  '  Oswego  im- 

calm,  and  their   spokesman   thus  addressed  him :    presses  the 

"  We  wanted  to  see  this  famous  man  who  tramples 

the  English  under  his  feet.     We  thought  we  should  find  him 

so  tall  that  his  head  would  be  lost  in  the  clouds.     But  you  are 

a  little  man,  my  father.    It  is  when  we  look  into  your  eyes 

that  we  see  the  greatness  of  the  pine-tree  and  the  fire  of  the 

eagle."1 

1  [Parkman,    Montcalm   and   Wolfe,     i.  475,    from    Bougainville's 
Journal.] 


280  NEW  FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

It  remained  to  be  seen  what  could  be  done  in  the  direction 
of  Lake  Champlain  or  in  that  of  Cape  Breton  Island.  The 
Loudoun's  Earl  of  Loudoun  decided  that  the  most  important 
agahfst1011  thing  to  be  done  was  to  capture  Louisburg,  and  to 
Louisburg  that  end  he  started  with  more  than  ten  thousand 
men  and  seventeen  ships-of-the-line,  and  after  wasting  the 
whole  summer  retired  to  the  mainland  because  he  heard  that  a 
French  fleet  was  approaching  which  outnumbered  him  by  one 
ship.  He  was  an  apt  scholar  of  that  worthy  king  of  France 
who  marched  his  forty  thousand  men  up  a  hill  and  down 
again. 

But  while  Loudoun  seems  to  have  been  incapable  of 
achieving  anything,  he  was  able  to  spoil  much.  These  mighty 
preparations  for  Louisburg  went  far  towards  stripping  the 
Hudson  River  of  its  defenders,  so  that  Montcalm  was  able 
to  entertain  thoughts  of  advancing  southward  and  capturing 
Albany.  For  this  purpose  there  were  assembled  at  Ticon- 
M  t  i  ,  deroga  in  July  a  force  of  seventy-six  hundred 
expedition      Frenchmen  and  Canadians  with  eighteen  hundred 

against  Fort 

William        Indians,   a    force    unusually    large   and    unwieldy. 

The  story  of  Braddock's  defeat  and  the  fall  of 
Oswego  had  penetrated  far  and  wide  throughout  the  wilder- 
ness, and  among  the  bedizened  chiefs  who  were  gathered 
between  Lake  Champlain  and  Lake  George  were  some  from 
distant  Iowa,  whose  language  none  of  the  white  men,  not 
even  those  most  familiar  with  the  forest,  could  understand. 
They  made  no  secret  of  the  fact  that  they  had  come  for 
feasting  and  pelf.  Such  gormandizers  the  Frenchmen  said 
they  had  never  seen.  Long  rows  of  oxen  roasted  whole  dis- 
appeared with  amazing  celerity,  and  wild  fowl  vanished  as  if 
they  had  taken  to  wing  and  flown  down  the  red  men's  throats. 

When,  however,  it  came  to  eating  human  flesh,  our 

Ferocity  of 

Montcalm's    Frenchmen  winced  at  the  sight.     As  for  brandy 

and  rum,  it  was  necessary  to  guard  the  casks  with 

great  care  to  prevent  these  thirsty  allies  from  breaking  them 


FORT    WILLIAM    HENRY  281 

open  ;  and  when  the  Indians  were  thoroughly  drunk  their 
ferocity  became  uncontrollable ;  they  quarrelled  incessantly, 
and  bit  and  tore  each  other  with  their  teeth  like  wild  beasts. 
It  was  not  easy  for  the  French  to  restrain  these  creatures, 
for  if  they  had  been  prevented  from  eating  prisoners  and 
drinking  rum,  they  would  have  taken  offence  and  gone  troop- 
ing off  on  other  business,  and  in  that  wilderness  they  were 
as  necessary  to  the  French  as  cavalry  are  necessary  in  civil- 
ized warfare.  It  has  been  said  that  the  eyes  of  an  army  are 
its  cavalry  ;  it  might  be  truly  said  that  the  eyes  of  the  French 
force  in  the  wilderness  were  its  Indian  scouts. 

The  only  English  force  opposed  to  Montcalm  consisted  of 
twenty-six  hundred  men  at  Fort  Edward,  under  the  immedi- 
ate command  of  General  Webb,  and  twelve  hundred  at  the 
head  of  Lake  George,  where  Johnson  had  formerly  defeated 
Dieskau.  It  was  shameful  mismanagement  on  the  The  Eng- 
part  of  Loudoun  to  leave  this  important  point  so  For/wn-** 
weakly  guarded.  When  Webb  learned  that  the  andV^rt"7 
French  were  likely  to  make  an  attack,  he  intended  Edward 
to  move  his  men  from  Fort  Edward  to  Lake  George,  but  he 
presently  desisted  from  this  lest  the  French  should  seize  the 
occasion  to  come  down  by  way  of  South  Bay,1  slip  around 
his  right  flank,  and  move  upon  Albany.  The  expedient  of 
withdrawing  his  weak  advance  force  to  the  meeting  of  routes 
at  Fort  Edward  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  him.  So 
he  sent  forward  a  thousand  men,  thus  raising  the  numbers  at 
Lake  George  to  twenty-two  hundred.  This  force  was  pro- 
tected by  strong  lines  of  works  which  Johnson  had  called 
Fort  William  Henry,  and  also  by  huge  trunks  of  felled  trees 
scattered  in  various  directions. 

Against  this  fortress  Montcalm  started  on  the  1st  of 
August  with  a  force  of  seven  thousand  Frenchmen  and  six- 
teen hundred   Indians,  leaving  a  garrison  of   four  hundred 

1  [The  southern  tip  of  Lake  Champlain,  about  halfway  between  Ti- 
conderoga  and  the  head  of  Lake  George.] 


282  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

men  at  Ticonderoga.  On  arriving  at  Fort  William  Henry 
he  sent  a  summons  to  the  commander,  Colonel  Monro,  to 
surrender,  but  Monro  refused,  and  presently  the  French  gen- 
Montcaim  eral  found  himself  obliged  to  proceed .  by  regular 
wuKamFort  methods  of  siege,  opening  parallels,  planting  bat- 
Henry  teries,  and  pounding  the  works.  While  this  was 
going  on,  a  letter  from  General  Webb  was  captured  by  the 
French.  It  was  written  to  inform  Colonel  Monro  that  Gen- 
eral Webb  would  be  unable  to  come  to  his  assistance  until 
further  reinforcements  should  arrive,  for  which  he  had  sent 
repeated  requests  down  the  river.  After  reading  this  wel- 
come information,  Montcalm  kept  it  in  his  pocket  two  or 
three  days  until  some  bad  breaches  had  been  made  in  the 
English  works,  and  then  he  sent  it  in  to  Colonel  Monro  with 
a  flag  of  truce  and  many  compliments  upon  his  bravery. 
Monro  politely  dismissed  the  flag  and  continued  to  earn  the 
compliments  by  holding  out  until  the  close  of  the  eighth  day  ; 
by  that  time  his  heavy  guns  were  all  silenced,  three  hundred 
of  his  men  were  killed,  and  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
garrison  were  disabled  with  small-pox.  Under  these  circum- 
stances Monro  capitulated.  His  force  was  to  march  out  with 
the  honours  of  war  and  to  retain  one  cannon  as  a  present  in 
token  of  their  gallantry.  Before  the  articles  were  signed 
Montcalm  called  a  meeting  of  the  Indian  chiefs,  and  received 
from  them  a  solemn  promise  confirmed  in  every  manner 
known  to  the  Indian  mind  that  there  should  be  no  molesta- 
tion of  the  prisoners.  The  chiefs  were  unanimous 
of  the  forces  in  making  this  promise,  and  asseverated  with  much 
WiUiam  earnestness  that  they  would  restrain  their  young 
Henry  warriors  from  any  acts  of  cruelty  or  plunder.  No 
sooner,  however,  had  the  garrison  left  the  fort,  than  a  rabble 
of  Indians  swarmed  in  and  instantly  tomahawked  all  the  men 
who  were  confined  to  their  beds  by  sickness. 

This  incident  was  like  the  tiger's  foretaste  of  blood.     The 
Indians  were  too  numerous  to  be  kept  in  control  by  their 


(I      K     Y      I     O      M      & 


ry 


-s*^ 


:x      ^i      o 


FORT    WILLIAM    HENRY  283 

French  allies.  They  understood  their  power,  and  were  to 
the  last  degree  indignant  at  the  prospect  of  being  baulked 
in  their  bloodthirsty  fury.  The  next  morning,  according  to 
agreement,  the  English  column  started  for  Fort  Edward  with 
an  escort  of  Canadian  militia.     At  the  moment  of   riM    ,   ,. 

Ihe  Indians 

starting,  a  large  party  of  Indians  tomahawked  and    uncon- 

1       i  i     i  -i  r    trollable 

scalped  seventeen  wounded  men  in  the  presence  or 

an  inadequate   French  force  that  had  been  sent  to  guard 

them.     Not  long  after  the  march  had  begun  another  party 

rushed  up  from  under  cover  of  the  trees  and  seized  some 

seventy  or  eighty  New  Hampshire  soldiers,  and    dragging 

them  off  under  cover,  massacred  them  at  leisure.    The  short 

journey  to  Fort  Edward  was  an  evil  one,  for   such  acts  of 

murder  kept  recurring  in  spite  of  Montcalm's  persistent  and 

furious  efforts  to  prevent  them.     It  is  said  that  in  the  course 

of  the  march  the  Indians  succeeded  in  dragging  six  or  seven 

hundred  persons  from  the  column  ;  but  Montcalm  was  able 

to  rescue  from  four  to  five  hundred  of  these.     The  exact 

number  of  the  victims  has  never  been  satisfactorily  estimated, 

but  it  was  enough  to  make  Fort  William  Henry  a 

r  ,  A  ,  The  mas- 

name  of  horror  to  Americans  for  many  a  long  year,    sacre  of 

To  Montcalm  it  was  an  abiding  grief;  but  while  pn" 
we  must  acquit  the  general  of  any  share  of  this  atrocity,  it 
can  hardly  be  denied  that  some  of  the  French  officers  showed 
culpable  weakness,  acting  as  if  they  were  more  than  half 
afraid  of  the  red  men  themselves,  so  that  they  were  over- 
cautious about  drawing  the  wrath  of  the  murderers  upon 
themselves.  Take  it  for  all  in  all,  it  is  one  of  the  blackest 
incidents  in  the  history  of  our  country. 

Before  the  next  season  of  campaigning  a  great  change  had 
been  made  in  England.     By  a  happy  stroke  of  fortune  the 
conduct  of  military   operations  throughout  the  empire  had 
been  put  into  the  hands  of  William  Pitt,  the  greatest    Wffliam 
war  minister  and  organizer  of  victory  that  the  world    Pltt 
has  seen.     It  boded  no  good  to  France  when  the  genius  of 


284  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

Pitt  was  called  upon  to  cooperate  with  that  of  Frederick  of 
Prussia.  Pitt  had  a  supreme  capacity  for  administration  and 
an  infallible  eye  for  the  selection  of  men  to  carry  out  his 
plans.  He  was  never  confused  by  petty  details,  but  saw 
through  them  to  the  great  underlying  principles.  He  de- 
lighted in  large  ideas,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  mari- 
time supremacy  of  England,  the  winning  of  the  Mississippi 
valley  for  English-speaking  America,  and  the  creation  of  a 
renovated  Protestant  empire  in  Germany  were  in  his  mind 
the  closely  allied  phases  of  one  stupendous  scheme.  Along 
with  these  high  intellectual  qualifications,  there  was  in  Pitt  a 
magnetic  glow  of  lofty  emotion  which  seemed  at  once  under 

his  leadership  to  inspire  the 
whole  English  people.  It  was 
said  of  him  that  no  man  ever 
entered  his  presence  without 
going  away  a  better  citizen  and 
a  braver  man.  In  an  age 
when  most  statesmen  looked  with  tolerance  upon  corruption, 
and  when  domestic  morals  were  not  upon  a  high  plane,  Pitt 
was  absolutely  spotless  in  public  and  in  private  life,  and  the 
popular  faith  in  his  disinterestedness  was  never  disappointed. 
He  was  a  democrat,  too,  after  the  fashion  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  for  the  first  time  since  the  death  of 
on  popular  Cromwell  the  English  people  felt  that  they  had 
a  leader  who  represented  the  whole  nation,  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest.  In  America  the  feeling  toward 
him  was  nearly  as  strong  as  in  England,  so  that  when  he 
began  by  informing  the  New  England  colonies  that  he  should 
have  to  ask  them  for  twenty  thousand  men,  they  replied  with 
greater  willingness  than  when  formerly  they  had  been  asked 
for  one  fourth  of  that  number. 

One  of  Pitt's  first  acts  was  to  recall  the  incompetent  Lou- 
doun and  to  replace  him  by  a  general  of  tried  ability,  Sir 
Jeffrey  Amherst,  and  among  his  subordinate  generals  was 


TICONDEROGA 


285 


the  youthful  James  Wolfe,  of  whom  we  shall  presently  hear 
more.    Pitt  would  have  been  glad  to  remove  Aber-   Pitt  recalls 
crombie,  but  influences  were  brought  to  bear  in    Loudoun 
behalf  of  that  general  of  such  a  nature  that  it  did  not  seem 
altogether  wise  to  disregard  them.     He  was  accordingly  re- 


286  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

tained  in  command  of  the  forces  on  the  Hudson  River,  while 
Pitt  sent  over  to  be  his  second  in  command  Lord  Howe, 
whom  Wolfe  called  the  best  soldier  in  the  English  army, 
and  who  was  unquestionably  an  officer  of  rare  personality 
and  extraordinary  powers.  This  George  Augustus,  Viscount 
Howe,  was  the  elder  brother  of  the  famous  admiral,  Richard, 
Viscount  Howe,  and  of  Sir  William  Howe,  who  commanded 
the  British  army  in  America  a  few  years  later.  These  three 
brothers  were  grandsons  of  George  I.,  whose  daughter  by 

the  Baroness  Kielmannsegge  married  Emanuel, Vis- 
Lord  Howe  TT  .  . 

count  Howe.  1  hey  were  nali-cousms  to  the  reign- 
ing king,  George  II.  All  three  studied  military  affairs  from 
their  earliest  years  ;  all  three  were  warm  friends  to  the  Amer- 
ican colonists  ;  but  this  was  especially  true  of  the  eldest 
brother,   George  Augustus.     In   sending  him    to   America 

J%>*??^S   ^t^Z^y^ tf-vrz^^' 

Pitt  had  reason  to  believe  that  he  would  prove  the  real  guid- 
ing spirit  of  Abercrombie's  army.  We  have  now  to  see  how 
an  adverse  fate  exacted  yet  one  more  costly  sacrifice  before 
all  the  benefits  of  the  new  change  in  administration  were 
realized. 

At  the  end  of  June,  1758,  Abercrombie's  army  was  en- 
camped at  the  head  of  Lake  George,  where  Johnson  had 
Theexpedi-  defeated  Dieskau  three  years  before,  and  where 
Tkon-gainSt  scarcely  ten  months  had  elapsed  since  the  horrors 
deroga  0f  Yort   William   Henry.     Abercrombie   had   col- 

lected at  that  spot  more  than  six  thousand  British  regulars 
and  nine  thousand  provincial  troops  ;  in  all,  more  than  fifteen 
thousand,  the  largest  army  that  had  ever  been  collected  in 
North  America.  The  task  before  him  was  to  do  what  John- 
son had  failed  to  do,  to  move  upon  Montcalm  at  Ticonderoga 
and  defeat  him.     By  the  4th  of  July  all  the  arrangements 


TICONDEROGA 


287 


PLAN 

or  THE 

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a/'Tmar  /ffi^rr  fZlMtf 
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jW/ffMnt*.  rvumt&ilrvmmt  tteJi 


PLAN    OF    FORT    AT    TICONDEROGA 


were  completed,  and  next  morning  the  whole  army  embarked 
in  bateaux  and  canoes  on  Lake  George.  It  was  an  imposing 
sight,  eloquently  described  by  more  than  one  contemporary 
pen.  It  soon  appeared  that  Pitt  had  not  been  wrong  in  sup- 
posing that  Lord  Howe  would  prove  to  be  the  life  of  the 
army.  His  popularity  was  unbounded  with  all  ranks,  from 
the  commander  down  to  the  private  soldiers.  On  his  first 
arrival  in  America  he  had  seized  an  opportunity 
for  learning  something  about  the  conditions  of  war-  Howe's 
fare  in  the  wilderness,  for  he  sought  with  the  true  a  apta  1  lty 
insight  of  genius  to  adapt  himself  to  new  conditions.  He 
would  lay  aside  all  cumbersome  baggage  and  trim  away  all 
useless  apparel,  cutting  down  long  coats  into  jackets,  making 
the  men  wear  leather  leggings  for  protection  in  the  brush, 
and  carry  meal  in  their  knapsacks,  which  they  could  at  any- 
time cook  for  themselves.  In  all  such  things  he  himself  set 
the  example. 


288  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW    ENGLAND 

At  noon  of  July  6  the  flotilla  had  reached  the  northern 
end  of  Lake  George,  where  it  narrows  into  a  crooked  river 
or  strait  communicating  with  Lake  Champlain  at  the  mouth 
of  Wood  Creek.  The  whole  force  was  speedily  landed,  and 
began  its  march  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  Robert 
Rogers  led  the  way  with  a  couple  of  New  England  regi- 
ments, but  presently  became  entangled  in  woods 

The  Eng-  '  r  J  & 

Hsh  scout-  so  dense  that  the  rays  of  the  sun  could  hardly  find 
lost  in  the  their  way  in.  Here,  after  a  while,  they  became 
confused,  and  were  at  a  loss  in  which  direction  to 
move.  A  party  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  French  under 
Langy  had  been  watching  the  landing  from  an  eminence  be- 
tween the  river  and  Trout  Brook.  Before  they  could  retreat 
from  that  spot 
the  whole  Eng- 
lish   army   had 

advanced  so  far         Yi^L 
as  to  cut  them      /j 


Jffwtu  -^y)pdfia 


asunder  from 
their  main  army 
at  Ticonderoga,  but  Langy  was  an  old  hand  at  bushranging, 
and  he  thought  that  by  crossing  to  the  north  of  Trout  Brook 
he  could  describe  a  semicircle  and  reach  Ticonderoga.  Thus 
the  three  hundred  and  fifty  Frenchmen  under  Langy  and  the 
two  New  England  regiments  under  Rogers  were  wandering 
in  a  forest  which  at  midday  was  nearly  as  dark  as  night.  And 
here  the  Frenchmen,  too,  soon  lost  their  bearings.  At  the 
very  head  of  the  English  column  was  Lord  Howe  with  Major 
Israel  Putnam,  when  all  at  once  a  rustling  was  heard  among 
the  branches,  and  a  sharp  cry  of  "  Qui  vive  ?  "  The  answer, 
"  Frangais"  was  prompt  enough,  but  some  of  Langy 's  men 
had  sharp  eyes,  and  even  in  that  pitch  darkness  could  tell  the 
Death  of  British  scarlet  from  the  French  white.  Langy' s 
Lord  Howe  repiy  was  a  vouey  which  slew  Lord  Howe  and 
wrecked  the  fortunes   of  an  army.     The  further  result  of 


TICONDEROGA  289 

this  chance  collision  was  the  defeat  of  Langy's  party,  most 
of  which  was  captured,  but  when  this  densest  piece  of  woods 
had  been  traversed,  and  the  news  of  what  had  happened  flew 


ROBERT    ROGERS 


from  rank  to  rank,  it  is  said  the  spirit  of  the  whole  army  was 
dashed,  and  high  hopes  gave  place  to  consternation.  So 
greatly  had  this  young  officer  endeared  himself  to  people  in 
the  short  time  since  his  arrival  in  America,  that  at  the  news 
of  his  death  there  was  weeping  throughout  the  northern 
colonies.  The  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  afterward 
erected  a  monument  to  Howe  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

Nobody  felt  the  loss  more  keenly  than  Abercrombie,  who 


290  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

had  been  depending  upon  Howe's  advice.  He  had  need  of 
such  advice  after  coming  within  touch  of  the  French  position. 
Across  the  plateau  northwest  of  the  fortress  of  Ticonderoga 
Montcalm's  there  runs  a  ridge  which  Montcalm  had  fortified  by 
defences  felling  trees  in  such  wise  as  to  make  a  zigzag  para- 
pet, so  that  an  approaching  foe  could  be  torn  between  flank 
fires  of  grapeshot  and  musketry.  On  the  inner  side  was  a 
platform  from  which  to  fire,  and  the  parapet  was  so  high  that 
nothing  could  be  seen  of  the  French  soldiers  standing  upon 
the  platform  except  the  crowns  of  their  hats.  Along  the 
entire  front  of  the  parapet  the  ground  was  covered  with  in- 
tertwisted boughs  presenting  a  myriad  sharp  points  to  any 
approaching  foe.  Now  this  position  was  obviously  one  which 
could  hardly  be  carried  by  infantry  armed  with  muskets,  but 
to  a  general  who  possessed  the  slightest  inventiveness  of 
mind  it  was  very  far  from  being  an  impregnable  position. 
Indeed,  Montcalm  had  been  slow  in  making  up  his  mind 
whether  to  try  to  hold  Ticonderoga  or  to  retreat  upon  Crown 


/    ■ 

¥  fyr<. 

y*  wi  k*//L 

<r*^    «_    D«*>i^*    1*   t*-c   4, 

:T~  i 

*;/3 

1°  C+fr: 

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A«WH^C  ^jn^xJ^   pWl^v) 

£*■   Au^wv-  A~ 

fa*   ru 

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■  '     <  *     ,                                ^ 

^  f, 

fiM^ 

fy; 

?,/« 

^rt^Jv-Uj? 

'  9n&, 

FACSIMILE    OF   LETTER    OF    LORD    HOWE 


Point,  and  when  at  last  he  decided  to  fortify  this  position, 
his  resolution  was  somewhat  hastily  taken.  It  is  probable 
that  Montcalm  made  a  mistake  in  trying  to  defend  the  point 


JOURNALS 

O    F 

Major  Robert  Rogers: 

CONTAINING 
An  Account  of  the  feveral  Excurfions  he  made 
under  the  Generals  who  commanded  upon 
the  Continent  of  North  America,  during 
the  late  War. 

From  which  may  by  collected 

The  moft  material  Circumftances  of  every  Cam- 
paign upon  that  Continent,  from  the  Commence* 
ment  to  the  Conciufion  of  the  War 


LONDON: 

Printed    for    the    AUTHOR, 

And  fold  by  J.  Millak,    Bookfellcr,   near  Whitehall. 

MDCCLXV. 


TITLE    OF    KOGERS'S    "  JOURNALS  ; 


?7& — iU/xy  — 


<f//^7f€^ 


<&#  /Z&&c-/f^ 


s# 


/^s&^a*  &fZ4frffcfC>  unr 


<Z-^ 


FACSIMILE  OF  LETTER  OF  ROBERT  ROGERS 


TICONDEROGA  293 

of  land  upon  which  the  fortress  of  Ticonderoga  stood,  for 
there  were  several  ways  in  which  Abercrombie  might  have 
defeated  him.  He  might  have  sent  back  to  the  landing  place 
and  brought  up  all  his  cannon  and  used  them  to  Alteroa- 
batter  down  these  wooden  obstructions  before  !oVAbe?_en 
charging  them  with  his  infantry.  That,  one  would  crombie 
suppose,  would  have  been  a  mere  ordinary  precaution.  And 
then,  there  was  a  hill  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  where 
Abercrombie  might  have  planted  a  few  batteries  that  could 
have  torn  the  French  army  to  pieces,  and  must  have  obliged 
them  to  change  their  position  at  once.  Precisely  such  a  use 
of  that  hill  was  made  in  1777  by  General  Burgoyne,  with  the 
desired  result  of  taking  Ticonderoga,  and  since  that  occasion 
it  has  been  known  as  Mount  Defiance.  Yet  again,  if  Aber- 
crombie had  made  a  feint  with  part  of  his  army  upon  Mont- 
calm's position,  while  with  his  main  force  he  had  marched 
about  five  miles  on  the  road  to  Crown  Point,  he    „ 

Montcalm 

would  have  found  the  lake  there  so  narrow  that  he  saved  by 
might  have  commanded  the  whole  of  it  with  bat-  trie's  stu- 
teries,  and  thus  cut  off  Montcalm's  retreat  and  left  pi  1  y 
it  for  starvation  to  do  the  rest.  It  would  seem,  therefore, 
that  Montcalm  was  rescued  from  a  perilous  situation  by  the 
stupidity  of  his  enemy,  and  it  is  among  the  possibilities  that 
he  may  have  counted  upon  that  very  circumstance.  There 
is  a  curious  analogy  between  this  battle  of  Ticonderoga  and 
those  of  Bunker  Hill  and  New  Orleans.  At  Bunker  Hill 
the  American  force  was  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
British,  and  might  have  been  forced  to  surrender  without 
the  loss  of  a  life.  This  would  have  been  done  if  the  British 
had  simply  gone  by  water  and  occupied  Charlestown  Neck, 
but  the  brother  of  the  young  general  slain  at  Ticonderoga 
preferred  to  assault  intrenchments  and  suffered  accordingly.1 
So,  too,  at  New  Orleans.  It  was  not  necessary  for  Sir  Ed- 
ward Pakenham  to  assault  Andrew  Jackson's  intrenchments, 
1  [See  Fiske,  The  American  Revolution,  Illustrated  Edition,  i.  151.] 


294  NEW  FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

for  he  might  have  advanced  up  the  farther  bank  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  and  turned  the  whole  position,  but  he  preferred 
the  bulldog  method,  and  very  probably  Jackson  should  have 
the  credit  of  having  known  his  man. 

With  regard  to  Abercrombie,  he  seems  to  have  been  influ- 
enced by  undue  haste.  A  rumour  reached  him  that  rein- 
forcements were  on  the  way  to  Montcalm,  and  therefore  he 
was  anxious  to  adopt  the  quickest  method.  Besides,  he 
seems  to  have  harboured  that  fallacious  notion  that  one  Eng- 
lishman can  under  any  circumstances  beat  three  Frenchmen. 
An  assault  At  a^  events>  on  the  forenoon  of  July  8  the  assault 
ordered  was  ordered.  The  instructions  to  the  English  in- 
fantry were  to  carry  the  works  by  a  solid  bayonet  charge,  an 
order  which  seems  almost  incredible,  for  as  might  have  been 
expected,  the  compactness  needed  for  a  bayonet  charge  was 
almost  instantly  broken  up  by  the  tangle  of  pointed  boughs 
and  the  trunks  lying  in  all  directions  upon  the  ground,  and 
presently  the  assailants,  caught  in  a  hailstorm  of  grape  and 
musket  shot  on  either  flank,  could  only  answer  by  firing  in 
turn.  Again  and  again,  with  astounding  gallantry,  the  men 
from  New  England  and  Old  England  returned  to  the  charge. 
Between  noon  and  nightfall  they  made  six  assaults  of  the 
most  desperate  character,  sometimes  almost  winning  their 
way  over  the  parapet,  but  of  course  the  situation  was  utterly 
ah  assaults  hopeless.  The  greater  the  bravery,  the  sadder  the 
repulsed  josg  Q£  j-fe  ^  twilight,  when  the  firing  ceased, 
Abercrombie  had  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  two  thousand 
men.1 

Even  after  all  this  useless  waste  of  life,  there  was  no  rea- 
son why  the  English  should  have  retreated.  Montcalm  was 
in  no  condition  to  take  the  offensive,  and  it  would  still  have 
been  in  Abercrombie' s  power  to  march  down  the  Crown 
Point  road  and  cut  off  supplies  from  the  French  army  ;  but 

1  [The  killed  alone  amounted  to  some  five  hundred  and  fifty  men. 
Kingsford,  History  of  Canada,  iv.  173.] 


TICONDEROGA  295 

our  accounts  agree  in  representing  the  general's  conduct  as 
disgraceful.  He  seems  to  have  lost  his  head,  and  thought 
only  of  escaping,  as  if  from  a  superior  foe.  By  the  time 
he  had  returned  to  the  head  of  Lake  George,  Abercrombie 
found  himself  a  laughing-stock.  People  called  him  Abercrom- 
a  poltroon,  an  old  woman,  Mrs.  Nabbycrombie,  and  biendiculed 
such  other  nicknames  and  epithets  as  served  to  relieve  their 
feelings. 

It  was  indeed  a  dark  day  for  New  England  when  the  death 
of  Lord  Howe  deprived  the  army  of  its  brains.  Of  all  the 
disasters  of  the  war,  perhaps  none  struck  so  near  home  as 
Ticonderoga.  But  the  tide  of  misfortune  had  reached  its 
height,  and  was  already  turning.  We  have  now  to  take  up 
the  story  of  Louisburg,  of  Fort  Frontenac  and  Niagara,  of 
Fort  Duquesne  and  Quebec,  —  a  story  fraught  with  good 
cheer  for  English-speaking  America. 


CHAPTER  X 

LOUISBURG,  FORT  DUQUESNE,  AND  THE  FALL  OF  QUEBEC 

At   midsummer   of    1758   four  years   had  elapsed   since 

Washington's   experiences   at   Great   Meadows,  and  as    yet 

little  or  nothing  had  occurred  to  encourage  the  English.     It 

will   be   remembered  that  along   the  border  between  New 

France  and  the  English  colonies  there  were  strate- 

Strategic  ° 

points  in  gic  points  of  primary  importance.  The  first  of 
these  was  Fort  Duquesne,  commanding  one  of  the 
great  central  routes  into  the  western  wilderness.  The  French 
had  anticipated  the  English  in  seizing  this  point,  and  the 
ruin  of  Braddock's  army  had  been  incurred  in  the  attempt  to 
recover  it  for  the  English.  The  second  strategic  point  was 
Fort  Frontenac  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Ontario  into  the  river 
St.  Lawrence,  for  this  stronghold  commanded  the  eastern 
approaches  to  Niagara,  and  thus  controlled  the  other  great 
route  to  the  west.  Thus  far  its  importance  had  been  illus- 
trated, first,  by  the  failure  of  Shirley  to  advance  beyond 
Oswego  in  the  direction  of  Niagara,  and  secondly,  by  Mont- 
calm's capture  of  Oswego,  a  very  heavy  blow  to  the  English. 
The  third  strategic  point  was  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake 
Champlain  with  its  fortresses  at  Crown  Point  and  Ticonder- 
oga,  for  in  French  hands  this  was  an  excellent  base  for  an 
invasion  of  New  York,  while  in  English  hands  it  would 
serve  equally  well  for  an  invasion  of  Canada.  This  strategic 
point  had  been  held  from  the  first  by  the  French,  and  in 
three  campaigns  the  English  had  failed  to  drive  them  away. 
In  the  first  of  these  Johnson  had  won  a  tactical  victory  which 
he  failed  to  improve.     The  second  had  witnessed  the  shock- 


LOUISBURG  297 

ing  tragedy  of  Fort  William  Henry.  The  third  had  been  a 
climax  of  imbecility,  as  shown  in  the  useless  butchery  at  Ticon- 
deroga  and  the  shameful  retreat  of  Abercrombie  after  that 
battle.  The  fourth  strategic  point  was  the  fortified  town  of 
Louisburg  on  Cape  Breton  Island,  which  not  only  threat- 
ened the  Newfoundland  fisheries  and  British  commerce  on 
the  Atlantic  in  general,  but  also  afforded  an  excellent  base 
for  a  French  invasion  of  the  New  England  coast,  while  at 
the  same  time  it  made  the  entrance  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
dangerous  for  a  hostile  fleet.  On  the  other  hand,  if  held  by 
the  English,  Louisburg  afforded  an  excellent  base  for  a  naval 
expedition  up  the  St.  Lawrence  against  Quebec.  This  im- 
portant place  had  been  captured  by  New  England  militia, 
aided  by  British  ships  in  the  preceding  war  thirteen  years 
before,  but  had  been  restored  to  France  by  the  treaty  which 
terminated  that  war. 

Down  to  the  midsummer  of  1758  nothing  seemed  to  have 
prospered  with  the  English,  but  at  all  the  strategic  points 
where  there  had  been  collision,  the  advantage  had  remained 
with  the  French.     The  first  change  of  fortune  was    r    .  . 

0  <  Louisburg 

at  Louisburg.  That  town  was  situated  on  a  penin- 
sula at  the  south  side  of  Cape  Breton  Island.  To  the  east  of 
it  was  a  deep  and  finely  sheltered  bay  which  was  defended  at 
its  northern  end  by  what  was  called  the  Grand  Battery,  and 
on  an  island  at  the  entrance,  by  what  was  called  the  Island 
Battery  ;  while  across  the  peninsula,  in  front  of  the  town, 
the  entrance  to  the  harbour  was  commanded  by  a  series  of 
four  bastions  named  from  south  to  north  Princess's,  Queen's, 
King's,  and  Dauphin's.  The  rear  of  the  town  was  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  protected  by  marshes,  and  the  rocky  coast 
of  Gabarus  Bay  to  the  rear  or  west  presented  but  few  points 
where  troops  could  effect  a  landing.  At  all  times  the  sea 
was  so  boisterous  as  to  make  it  dangerous  for  any  floating 
thing  to  approach  the  rocks.  Since  the  treaty  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  the  French  government  had  spent  great  sums  of 


298  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

money  in  perfecting  the  fortifications.  It  was  now  com- 
manded by  General  Drucour,  who  had  three  thousand  regu- 
lar troops  with  a  few  Canadians  and  Indians,  while  in  the 
harbour  were  five  ships-of-the-line  and  seven  frigates  mount- 
ing five  hundred  and  forty  guns  and  carrying  three  thousand 
men. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  May  there  sailed  out  from 
Halifax  an  English  force  which  was  to  undertake  the  reduc- 
The  Eng-  t^on  °^  Louisburg.  It  was  commanded  by  Admiral 
hshexpe-  Boscawen,  who  had  twenty-three  ships-of-the-line 
against         and  eighteen  frigates  along  with  a  fleet  of  trans- 

Louisburg 

ports  carrying  eleven  thousand  British  regulars  and 
five  hundred  colonial  militia.  The  land  force  was  commanded 
by  the  new  general-in-chief  for  America,  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst. 
It  was  the  2d  of  June  when  this  powerful  force  arrived  in  Gaba- 
rus  Bay  and  scrutinized  its  wild  coast  for  a  place  to  land  in 
the  rear  of  the  town.  The  prospect  was  not  encouraging, 
and  some  officers  were  inclined  to  pronounce  the  attempt 
foolhardy,  but  Boscawen  and  Amherst  saw  a  spot  which 
seemed  practicable,  and  they  entrusted  the  task  of  effecting  a 
landing  there  to  the  young  brigadier-general,  James  Wolfe. 

There  were  three  or  four  places  along  the  coast  where  a 
landing  might  be  effected  if  the  sea  were  somewhat  to  sub- 
side, and  the  plan  was  to  make  demonstrations  against  all 
these  points  while  the  extreme  left  wing  under  General 
Wolfe  should  advance  against  the  most  remote  of  them, 
known  as  Fresh  Water  Cove,  with  the  intention  of  carrying 
it.  Although  this  plan  was  matured  on  the  2d  of  June,  it 
was  not  until  the  8  th  that  there  was  enough  of  a  lull  in  the 
violence  of  the  surf  to  admit  of  any  approach  to  the  shore 
General  whatever.  Then  the  plan  was  tried,  and  Wolfe's 
effects  a  landing  was  achieved  with  brilliant  success.  Al- 
landmg  though  Fresh  Water  Cove  was  defended  by  one 
thousand  Frenchmen  behind  entrenchments  supported  by  a 
battery  of  eight  cannon,  Wolfe  managed  his  landing  so  as  to 


LOUISBURG  299 

pass  by  their  left  flank,  between  it  and  the  town,  and  there 
to  attack  them  in  such  wise  as  to  cut  them  off.  Under  these 
circumstances  the  Frenchmen  abandoned  their  works  and 
fled  to  the  woods,  whence  they  made  a  circuitous  retreat  to 


ADMIRAL    EDWARD    BOSCAWEN 


their  comrades  in  the  town.  After  this  auspicious  beginning 
the  remainder  of  the  English  army  was  safely  landed,  and 
ready  for  further  operations.  Troops  were  presently  moved 
so  as  to  threaten  the  communications  of  the  Grand  Battery 
at  the  north  end  of  the  harbour,  whereupon  the  French 
abandoned  it.  The  eastern  side  of  the  harbour  ran  in  the 
shape  of  a  sickle  from  the  Grand  Battery,  terminating  in  a 
point  opposite  the  point  of  the  peninsula  on  which  the  city 


300  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

stood.  The  space  of  sea  between  these  two  points  was  the 
entrance  to  the  harbour,  and  the  small  island  already  men- 
tioned, with  its  Island  Battery,  lay  midway  between  them. 
Considering  the  great  superiority  of  the  English  fleet,  the 
The  har-  French  had  felt  it  rash  to  keep  a  detachment  upon 
ilTsecured*  tne  opposite  point,  where  it  was  liable  to  be  cut 
byrtheUCed  off'  and  tney  nad  therefore  withdrawn  it.  Now 
English  Wolfe,  with  twelve  hundred  men,  marched  past 
the  Grand  Battery  and  around  the  sickle-shaped  shore  and 
took  possession  of  the  works  which  the  French  had  there 
abandoned,  and  from  that  point  he  kept  up  a  heavy  fire 
against  the  Island  Battery  until  by  June  25  all  its  guns  were 
dismounted  and  silent. 

It  now  became  possible  for  the  English  fleet  to  enter  the 
harbour,  and  in  order  to  ward  off  such  a  calamity,  Drucour 
sank  six  ships  at  the  entrance.  Meanwhile,  General  Amherst 
was  digging  his  trenches  and  building  his  parallels  with  pro- 
digious labour  over  the  treacherous  ground  behind  the  town. 
Gradually  the  English  drew  nearer,  until  they  approached 
the  very  walls  on  both  sides  of  the  peninsula,  and  kept  throw- 
Gradual  ing  shot  and  shell  into  the  streets.  In  one  adven- 
destruction  tufe  after  another  tne  prench  ships  were  sunk  or 
French  fleet  burned  until  only  five  were  left.  On  the  21st  of 
July  a  bomb  falling  upon  one  of  these  penetrated  her  maga- 
zine and  she  blew  up,  communicating  the  flames  to  two  sister 
ships,  which  were  burned  to  the  water's  edge.  A  large  part 
of  the  town  had  now  taken  fire,  and  the  time  of  the  besieged 
was  largely  consumed  in  fighting  the  flames  ;  then  a  party  of 
six  hundred  English  sailors  in  boats  rowed  into  the  harbour 
and  seized  the  two  remaining  French  ships  ;  one  of  them, 
a  seventy-four,  they  burned  ;  while  the  other,  a  sixty-four, 
they  made  a  prize  and  towed  away.    On  the  26th  of 

Surrender         ti.ii  •  i  <-t^  ii- 

of  Louis-       July  the  last  gun  m  the  row  of  rrench  bastions 

was  dismounted  and  a  white  flag  was  raised.     The 

details  of  the  surrender  were  completed  next  day.     It  was  a 


VIEW    OF    LOUIS13U 


■ 


NU    THE    SIEGE,    1758 


FORT   FRONTENAC  301 

truly  great  victory,  for  the  New  England  coast  was  at  last 
relieved  of  a  serious  danger,  and  the  way  was  opened  for 
an  English  fleet  to  ascend  the  St.  Lawrence.  There  was  a 
general  feeling  that  the  glory  of  the  achievement  belonged 
to  the  youthful  Wolfe  more  than  to  any  one  else.  While 
the  management  of  the  whole  affair,  both  by  General  Am- 
herst and  by  Admiral  Boscawen,  had  been  admirable,  yet  in 
all  Wolfe's  operations  there  had  been  the  artistic  touch,  so 
seldom  witnessed,  that  marked  real  military  genius,  and 
along  with  all  the  intelligence,  the  quickness  and  sureness, 
there  was  an  electric  enthusiasm  that  communicated  itself  to 
the  whole  arm)',  and  wherever  that  tall,  emaciated  form  was 
present,  there  was  the  centre  of  interest. 

It  had  been  Wolfe's  desire  to  follow  up  the  capture  of 
Louisburg  by  an  immediate  advance  against  Quebec,  but  the 
obstinate  defence  of  Drucour  had  made  it  so  late 

\\  olfe  re- 
in the  season  that  it  was  thought  best  to  postpone    turns  to 

1  ■         r  -y  i   itt    if  1  England 

such  an  enterprise  for  the  present,  and  Wolte,  who 
was  seriously  ill,  went  home  to  England  for  the  winter,  while 
Amherst  took  his  army  to  the  Hudson  River  with  intent  to 
relieve  the  situation  at  Lake  George. 

Meanwhile  in  Abercrombie's  camp  there  had  been  much 
despondency  and  grumbling  since  the  terrible  slaughter  of 


the  8th  of  July.  During  the  summer  more  or  less  guerilla 
fighting  went  on,  in  the  course  of  which  Israel  Putnam  was 
at  one  time  taken  prisoner  and  tied  to  a  stake  to  be  burned 
alive,  but  was  rescued  by  a  French  officer  after  the  tongues 
of  flame  had  actually  begun  to  curl  around  him.  Presently 
one  of  Abercrombie's  officers,  Colonel  John  Bradstreet, 
accomplished  something  which  went  far  toward  changing  the 


3o2  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

face  of  things  on  the  New  York  frontier.  Bradstreet  was  a 
native  of  England,  forty-six  years  of  age,  but  most  of  his  life 
had  been  spent  in  America.  Among  Shirley's  officers  he 
had  been  recognized  as  very  capable  ;  he  had  taken  part  in 
the  first  capture  of  Louisburg,  and  in  the  present  war  he 
had  been  connected  with  the  Oswego  campaign.  He  now 
Bradstreet's  had  reason  to  believe  that  such  heavy  demands  had 
agaTnlt  Fort  been  made  upon  the  French  resources  in  various 
Frontenac  directions  that  an  inadequate  force  had  been  left  to 
guard  Fort  Frontenac.  He  therefore  proposed  to  conduct 
an  expedition  for  the  capture  of  that  important  place.  Lord 
Howe  had  favoured  this  plan,  but  Abercrombie  had  not  re- 
garded it  with  approval.  At  last,  after  a  council  of  war  had 
been  held  to  consider  the  case,  Bradstreet  was  allowed  to 
undertake  the  task  with  a  force  of  three  thousand  men, 
chiefly  militia  of  New  York  and  New  England.  On  his 
march  through  the  Oneida  country  he  found  occasion  to 
observe  that  Montcalm's  victory  at  Ticonderoga  had  wrought 
more  or  less  disaffection  toward  the  English  even  in  the 
Long  House.  It  was  high  time  to  do  something  to  coun- 
teract this  influence.  Bradstreet  kept  on  to  the  site  of  the 
ruined  Oswego,  and  thence,  crossing  the  lake  in  boats, 
pounced   upon   Fort   Frontenac  and    captured    it, 

Fort  Fron-       r  ,  r  .  r  * 

tenac  taken,    with  its  garrison  of  only  one  hundred  and  ten  men. 

August  27 

He  also  took  seventy  cannon  and  mortars,  nine 
sloops  of  war,  and  an  enormous  quantity  of  warlike  material, 
provisions,  and  furs.  It  was  impossible  to  make  the  best 
use  of  these  captures  without  rebuilding  Oswego,  so  as  to 
regain  a  seaport  on  the  lake ;  but  there  did  not  seem  to  be 
men  enough  and  time  enough  for  this.  General  Stanwix 
was  then  building  the  fort  known  by  his  name,  on  the  di- 
vide between  Lake  Ontario  and  the  Mohawk  valley,  and  that 
seemed  to  be  all  the  constructive  work  that  could  then  be 
undertaken.  The  walls  of  Fort  Frontenac  were  battered 
down  by  its  own  cannon,  and  as  much  as  possible  of  the 


FORT    FRONTENAC 


303 


FORT    FRONTENAC 


military  spoil  was  taken  across  the  lake,  whence  some  of  it 
was  carried  away  and  the  remainder  destroyed.  A  thousand 
men  were  left  to  defend  Fort  Stanwix,  and  Bradstreet  re- 
turned to  the  Hudson  River. 

In  this  expedition  Bradstreet  dealt  a  blow  second  only,  if 
second  at  all,  to  the  capture  of  Louisburg.  It  is  true  the 
success  was  but  partial ;  a  complete  success  would  have 
meant  the  restoration  of  Oswego  as  a  port  on  the  route  to 
Niagara.  The  building  of  Fort  Stanwix  as  a  means  of  main- 
taining English  influence  near  the  centre  of  the  Long  House 
did  not  quite  supply  the  place  of  such  a  port ;  nev- 
ertheless, the  route  to  Niagara  was  laid  open,  and 
what  was  of  far  greater  importance,  the  commu- 
nications with  Fort  Duquesne  were  cut  off.  That 
all-important  fortress  was  supplied  through  the  long  line  of 
communication  from  the  St.  Lawrence  River  to  the  Niagara, 
and  thence  across  Lake  Erie  to  Presqu'Isle  and  Venango 
and  down  the  Allegheny  River.     Among  the  munitions  of 


The  loss  of 
Fort  Fron- 
tenac  weak- 
ens Fort 
Duquesne 


304  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

war  and  other  provisions  captured  at  Fort  Frontenac  there 
was  a  great  supply  already  on  its  way  for  Fort  Duquesne. 
The  exploit  of  Bradstreet  left  that  remote  strategic  point  in 
the  air,  and  we  have  now  to  see  how  its  conquest  was  com- 
pleted. 

Among  the  excellent  officers  sent  by  Pitt  to  America  was 
a  veteran  Scotchman  named   John  Forbes.      He 

General  ■' 

John  was  a  well-educated  man,  who  had  been  for  some 

Forbes 

time  a  physician  before  taking  up  the  life  of  a  sol- 
dier. He  was  frank,  simple,  honest,  abounding  in  good 
sense,  and  very  ready  to  learn  from  others.  His  weight  of 
character,  combined  with  kindliness,  made  him  as  much 
liked  by  the  Americans  as  Braddock  had  been  detested.  It 
is  a  commentary  upon  Forbes's  strong  qualities  that  during 

his  American  campaign  he  was  suf- 
fering from  a  severe  illness  which 
carried  him  off  in  the  following  spring. 
Among  its  symptoms  was  a  severe  gastric  and  intestinal  in- 
flammation which  kept  him  a  large  part  of  the  time  in  acute 
torture,  and  it  was  commonly  necessary  for  him  to  be  carried 
The  expedi-  in  a  litter,  so  that  this  campaign  might  well  be  said 
Fort  Du-nst  t0  nave  Deen  conducted  by  a  man  upon  his  death- 
quesne  ^q^      General  Forbes,  however,  had  two  very  ac- 

tive and  capable  lieutenants  :  one  was  George  Washington ; 
the  other  was  Lieutenant-Colonel  Henry  Bouquet,  a  native 
of  Switzerland,  who  had  seen  much  service  on  the  continent 
of  Europe  and  had  entered  the  English  service  in  1756. 
He  was  destined  a  few  years  later,  in  Pontiac's  war,  to  win 
a  great  reputation.  The  army  commanded  by  General  Forbes 
with  these  able  lieutenants  consisted  of  about  seven  thousand 
men,  partly  British  regulars,  partly  the  ordinary  provincial 
militia,  and  partly  a  force  known  as  the  Royal  Americans 
and  composed  chiefly  of  Pennsylvania  Germans.  It  was  among 
these  Royal  Americans  that  Bouquet  held  his  commission. 
The  first  serious  question  was  the  choice  of  a  route.    Wash- 


FORT    DUOUESNE 


305 


HENRY    BOUQUET 


ington  was  in  favour  of  the  old  route  which  had  been  taken 
by  Braddock,  but  Bouquet  thought  it  would  be  The  choice 
better  to  push  westward  through  the  mountains  of  of  routes 
Pennsylvania  in  a  course  more  or  less  like  that  now  taken 
by  the  railroad  from  Harrisburg  to  Pittsburg.  The  opinion 
of  Bouquet  found  favour  with  General  Forbes  and  that  route 
was  chosen. 


306  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

Forbes 's  method  of  advance  was  very  different  from  that 
of  Braddock.     Instead  of  advancing  through  mile  after  mile 

of  unknown  wilderness,  taking  with  him  immensely 
method  of      long  baggage  trains,  Forbes' s  method  was  to  clear 

the  way  and  make  something  of  a  road  as  he  went 
along,  building  at  intervals  sundry  blockhouses  which  might 
serve  as  temporary  supports  and  magazines.  This  required 
a  great  amount  of  digging,  hewing,  blasting,  and  building, 
and  was  a  truly  Herculean  piece  of  work.  Gradually,  but 
surely,  the  rude  road  was  carried  over  the  ridges  of  the  Al- 
leghanies  and  Laurel  Hill,  and  finally  at  Loyalhannon  Creek 
the  last  magazine  was  built  as  a  base  for  the  final  advance 
on  Fort  Duquesne,  which  was  about  fifty  miles  distant. 

One  circumstance  which  reconciled  Forbes  to  this  slow 
method  of  advance  was  his  knowledge  of  the  difficulty  of  hold- 
ing Indian  allies  together  for  many  weeks  at  a  time  without 
the  stimulus  of  slaughter  or  plunder  frequently  renewed. 
Vaudreuil  had  sent  parties  of  Hurons,  Miamis,  Ottawas,  and 
The  l  w  Pottawattamies  to  the  aid  of  Fort  Duquesne,  and 
progress  of  earnestly  hoped  that  the  English  would  not  defer 
favourable     their  approach  until  these    warriors   should   have 

grown  tired  and  gone  home.  Forbes  appreciated 
this  point  and  was  willing  to  give  them  time  to  get  tired. 
He  had  much  reason  to  expect  that  delay  would  work  in 
his  favour,  inasmuch  as  the  advance  of  so  large  a  force  as 
seven  thousand  men  could  not  fail  to  produce  a  notable  moral 
effect  upon  the  Delawares,  Shawnees,  and  Mingos,  and  he 
entertained  strong  hopes  of  winning  back  these  tribes  to  the 
English  alliance.1 

At  this  juncture  it  was  especially  important  that  no  oppor- 
tunity should  be  afforded  the  enemy  of  inflicting  even  the 
slightest  reverse  upon  the  English  advance,  since  the  moral 
effect  which  might  thus  be  produced  upon  the  Indians  was 

1  [Cf.  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  ii.  141,  142,  where  the  letters 
of  Vaudreuil  and  Forbes,  describing  their  plans,  are  quoted.] 


FORT    DUOUESNE  307 

likely  to  be  out  of  all  proportion  with  the  importance  of  the 
affair  itself. 

Now  there  was  in  the  English  army  a  hot-headed  and  ill- 


balanced  Scotch  officer  named  James  Grant.  He  was  a  super- 
cilious sort  of  person,  and  looked  down  with  ineffable  con- 
tempt upon  the  provincial  troops.  It  was  very  irksome  to 
Major  Grant  to  be  within  fifty  miles  of  Fort  Duquesne  and 


308  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

not  engage  in  some  kind  of  work  more  exciting  than  that  of 

spade  and  pickaxe ;  so  he  sought  and  obtained  permission 

from  Bouquet  to  take  a  thousand  men  and  go  for- 

Major  n  fe 

Grant's  ward  to  reconnoitre  the  situation.  Grant  went 
reconnois-  forward,  but  did  not  return  until  he  had  provoked 
a  fight  with  the  enemy,  in  which  he  was  ignomin- 
iously  defeated  with  a  loss  of  one  quarter  of  his  force.  This 
Grant  was  afterward  a  member  of  Parliament,  and  served  in 
the  British  army  during  a  large  part  of  the  Revolutionary 
War.  He  is  now  perhaps  best  remembered  for  a  remark 
which  he  made  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  1774,  to  the 
effect  that  the  Americans  were  an  undisciplined  rabble  who 
would  take  to  their  heels  at  the  first  sound  of  a  cannon. 
But  two  years  after  that  unlucky  speech,  when  he  met  Small- 
wood's  Mary  landers  at  the  battle  of  Long  Island  and  pounded 
them  four  hours  without  making  them  give  up  an  inch  of 
ground,  he  found  reason  to  amend  his  opinion.1 

Grant's  defeat  near  Fort  Duquesne  occurred  about  the 
middle  of  September,  and  three  weeks  afterwards  a  conven- 
tion of  Indian  chiefs  was  assembled  at  Easton  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. This  conference  was  brought  about  by  the  earnest 
persuasion  of  General  Forbes  and  the  wise  cooperation  of 
Sir  William  Johnson.  It  will  be  remembered  that  while  the 
Mohawk  end  of  the  Long  House,  where  Johnson  had  his 
home,  was  firmly  attached  to  the  English  cause,  yet  through 
the  rest  of  the  confederacy  symptoms  of  vacillation  were 
sometimes  seen,  and  at  the  Seneca  end  French  interests  now 
and  then  prevailed.  The  recent  capture  of  Fort  Frontenac 
by  Bradstreet  had  done  much  to  discredit  the  French  in  the 
minds  of  the  Senecas,  and  could  these  Indians,  with  the 
tribes  southwest  of  them,  be  induced  once  more  to  make 
common  cause  with  the  English,  it  was  clear  that  Fort  Du- 
quesne would  become  untenable.  To  this  end  was  exerted 
all  the  influence  of  Sir  William  Johnson  over  the  Senecas, 
1  [Fiske,  The  Ainerican  Revolution,  Illustrated  Edition,  i.  218-220.] 


FORT    DUQUESNE  309 

while  at  the  same  time  a  memorable  triumph  of  diplomacy 
was  effected  by  the  noble  Moravian  missionary,  Christian 
Frederic  Post,  who  at  the  Easton  conference  won      ,  . 

Christian 

the  alliance  of  the  Delawares,  Shawnees,  and  Min-   Frederic 
gos.1      I  his  achievement  sealed  the  doom  of  rort   over  the 
Duquesne.     It  was   isolated   in  a  hostile  country 
without  means   of  supply.      Its   French   militia  from   New 
Orleans  and  the  Illinois  country  departed  in  boats  down  the 
Ohio.     Its  painted   and   feathered  allies   from   Detroit  and 
Green  Bay  tramped  off  through  the  many-hued  autumn  for- 
ests in  the  haze  of  Indian  summer,  and  presently  the  French 
commander  retired  with  his  garrison  up  the  Alle-    The  French 
gheny  River  to  Lake   Erie   and   so   to  Montreal.    p^xate 
When  Washington  and  Bouquet  arrived   at   Fort    Duquesne 
Duquesne  they  found  it  dismantled  and  partially  destroyed. 
There  was  not  time  enough,  so  late  in  the  season,  to  rebuild 
it  properly,  but  around  the  cluster  of  traders'  cabins  that  had 
gathered  there  a  stockade  was  built,  and  the  embryo  village 
was  named  Pittsburg,  in  honor  of  the  great  war  minister.2 
In  the  following  year  General  Stanwix  came  there  and  built 
Fort  Pitt.     The  gallant  Forbes,  after  lingering  all  winter  on 
the  brink  of  the  grave,  died  in  March,  and  was  buried  in 
Christ  Church,  Philadelphia.3 

Great  were  the  rejoicings  in  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  as 
well  as  in  all  the  other  English  colonies,  over  this  auspicious 
capture  of  the  Gateway  of  the  West.  But  neither  this  nor 
any  other  conquest  could  be  deemed  finally  secure  so  long  as 
the  French  maintained  themselves  in  Canada.     Pitt  was  one 

1  [Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  ii.  142-150,  gives  interesting  ex- 
t:  acts  from  Post's  Journal.} 

2  ["  I  have  used  the  freedom  of  giving  your  name  to  fort  du  Quesne, 
as  I  hope  it  was  in  some  measure  the  being  actuated  by  your  spirit 
that  now  makes  me  master  of  the  place."  Forbes  to  Pitt,  Nov.  27, 
1758.     Kingsford,  History  of  Canada,  iv.  213.] 

8  [For  the  literature  of  this  campaign,  see  Winsor,  Ararr.  and  Crit. 
Hist.,  v.  599.] 


310  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

who  well  understood  the  sound  military  maxim  that  in  war, 
until  everything  has  been  done,  nothing  has  been  done,  and 
Pitt  he  entered  upon  the  year  1759  with  the  firm  inten- 

dri?eVthet0  t*on  °*  driving  the  French  from  America  altogether ; 
from°h  anc^  wnat  had  been  done  on  both  sides  of  the  globe 
Canada  was  oniy  the  prelude  to  heavier  blows.  "  We 
are  forced  to  ask  every  morning,"  wrote  Horace  Walpole, 
"what  new  victory  there  is,  for  fear  of  missing  one."  Ter- 
rible was  the  catalogue  of  French  defeats  in  1759.  Their 
army  in  Germany  was  routed  at  Minden  by  Ferdinand, 
Prince  of  Brunswick ;  one  great  fleet  was  defeated  at  Lagos 
Bay  by  Admiral  Boscawen,  and  another  was  annihilated  at 
Quiberon  by  Sir  Edward  Hawke  ;  Havre  was  bombarded  by 
Admiral  Rodney ;  Guadeloupe,  the  most  valuable  of  the 
French  West  Indies,  was  taken ;  and  serious  reverses  were 
experienced  in  India. 

In  America  prodigious  exertions  were  made.  Massachu- 
setts raised  seven  thousand  men,  and  during  the  year  con- 
Prepara-  tributed  more  than  a  million  dollars  toward  the 
rampaign*16  expenses  of  the  war.  Connecticut  raised  five  thou- 
ofl759  sand  troops;  New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island 

furnished  one  thousand  between  them ;  New  York  raised 
twenty-six  hundred  and  eighty  ;  New  Jersey,  one  thousand ; 
Pennsylvania,  twenty-seven  hundred  ;  Virginia,  two  thousand  ; 
and  South  Carolina,  twelve  hundred  and  fifty.  These,  to- 
gether with  twenty-two  thousand  British  regulars  and  other 
special  levies  of  provincial  troops,  made  an  aggregate  of  some- 
what more  than  fifty  thousand  collected  for  the  overthrow 
of  the  French  power  in  America. 

With  regard  to  the  strategy  with  which  this  force  was  to 
be  used,  it  bears  the  marks,  of  course,  of  the  pre- 

Weak 

points  of  Napoleonic  age.  The  weak  points  in  eighteenth- 
centun"  century  strategy  were  the  insufficient  concentra- 
strategy        t-Qn  Q£  resources  anc[  j-ne  persistence  in  advancing 

against  objective  points  by  means  of  converging  lines.    Such 


defences  of  Quebec 


bATTBHIES  U'  OTCVHS   «W#f 

4.7}\6  (Model.               9  o 

%'fhe  Clttoytn  Barbette  U  £ 

? '.  Sailor*  Imp    7  :  o 

D.  The Hospitals   %  ]  a 

V.AnewBatiffy  overtte 
jrtfyfjoinud,  thiv  PicJuds    % 

p.(fciteiv?RaMuj  no  G.mounteji  0 


G.NewBaUery  a^the  up/>er-  \ 

pari  or ~th*  Kings  Yards      3    '■  O 
I/Jfew  BaUe/j  altfa lower     . 

■  part  of  the  Kwg*  Yard<         o      ° 

1 '.  RoyalBovUery 

K  DctwphxiX' Battery 


RIVER-  vST  LAWR  E  N  C  E 


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w  lik  the  Opcraljuosis  of  the 

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MAP    OF    THE 


{. 


AVJRWofihc 
AC11QN  <>diuod  lay  foe  ENGLISH 

Quebec 


OF   QUEBEC 


THE    FALL    OF    QUEBEC  311 

errors  were  often  enough  repeated  in  the  nineteenth  century 
with  less  excuse.  Since  now,  for  the  first  time  in  the  great 
war,  the  capture  of  Quebec  entered  into  the  plan  of  cam- 
paign, the  more  modern  method  would  have  been  to  concen- 
trate everything  upon  that  one  point  and  to  avoid  expending 
energy  in  subordinate  matters,  however  important,  such  as 
the  capture  of  Fort  Niagara,  or  the  reestablishment  of  Os- 
wego, inasmuch  as  success  in  the  greater  undertaking  would 
carry  with  it  success  along  the  whole  line.  Nevertheless, 
the  policy  of  diffused  attack  was  more  in  accordance  with 
the  mental  habits  of  that  time,  and  Amherst,  the  commander- 
in-chief,  though  a  capable  general,  was  not  a  man  of  great 
originality.  His  plan  was  to  complete  the  victories  at  the 
west  and  insure  the  safety  of  Pittsburg  by  sending  General 
an  expedition  westward  to  restore  Oswego  and  take  pi™nhof st' 
Niagara.  At  the  same  time  the  principal  blow  camPai£n 
should  be  struck  at  Quebec  by  General  Wolfe,  assisted  by 
the  fleet  under  Admiral  Saunders.  As  for  Lake  Champlain, 
Amherst  undertook  to  clear  the  French  from  there  and  pro- 
ceed against  Montreal,  in  the  hope  either  of  taking  that  city 
and  advancing  against  Quebec,  or,  at  least,  of  creating  a  di- 
version that  would  lighten  Wolfe's  task.  The  subordinate 
parts  of  this  scheme  were  carried  out  with  a  creditable  mea- 
sure of  success,  yet  not  such  as  to  take  away  from  Wolfe 
the  necessity  for  doing  the  impossible.  As  often  happens 
in  warfare,  the  shortcomings  of  the  average  intellect  were 
repaired  by  the  presence  of  some  heaven-sent  genius. 

We  may  first  note  the  fortunes  of  the  western  expedition 
which  started  from  Albany  under  General  Prideaux,    General 
with   Sir   William    Johnson   second    in   command.    ^ditSn 
The  work  to  be  accomplished  by  this  force  was    p^"51 
important,  and  five  thousand  men  were  prudently    Niagara 
allotted  to  it.     General  Prideaux  was  to  garrison  the  new 
Fort  Stanwix,  and  proceeding  thence  to  the   shore  of  Lake 
Ontario  was  to  leave  half  of  his  troops  under  Colonel  Haldi- 


312  NEW    FRANCE   AND   NEW   ENGLAND 

mand1  to  restore  and  defend  Oswego,  while  he  himself  with 
the  remainder  of  the  army  should  move  against  Fort  Niagara. 
The  wisdom  of  leaving  a  strong  force  at  Oswego  was  pre- 
sently demonstrated  when  the  French  came  across  Lake 
Ontario  to  attack  it.  The  pressure  upon  Quebec  had  be- 
come so  heavy  that  it  was  not  easy  to  find  men  enough  for 
this  western  work,  and  one  thousand  men  were  all  that  could 
be  gathered.  This  party,  commanded  by  the  partisan  chief- 
tain La  Corne,  made  a  demonstration  upon  the  camp  at  Os- 
wego, but  was  repulsed  with  considerable  loss,  and  retired 
from  the  scene. 

Fort  Niagara,  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Niagara  River, 
was  bravely  defended  by  its  commander,  Pouchot.  In  the 
course  of  the  engagement  Prideaux  was  killed  by  a  shell,  and 
the  command  devolved  upon  Johnson.  Cut  off,  as  Pouchot 
was,  from  all  help  from  the  east,  his  fate  was  only  a  question 
of  time  unless  something  could  be  done  in  his  behalf  by  the 
militia  and  Indians  of  the  west.  A  force  had  been  gathered 
together  from  Detroit  and  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  from  Green 
Fail  of  Fort  Bay  and  tne  Imn°is  River,  consisting  of  about 
Niagara  eleven  hundred  Frenchmen  with  two  hundred  In- 
dians under  command  of  the  able  leaders  Marin,  Aubry,  and 
Ligneris,  who  had  been  the  last  commander  at  Fort  Du- 
quesne.  The  original  object  of  this  western  muster  had 
been  to  retrieve  the  last  autumn's  disaster  and  take  Pittsburg 
from  the  English ;  but  the  Frenchmen  had  only  advanced 
as  far  as  PresquTsle  and  Le  Bceuf  when  a  message  from 
Pouchot  summoned  them  to  come  to  the  rescue  at  Fort  Ni- 

1  [On  Haldimand's  interesting  career  and  invaluable  services  to 
American  history,  see  Kingsford,  History  of  Canada,  iv.  317,  318. 
Like  Bouquet,  he  was  a  Swiss  by  birth.  He  gathered  together  two 
hundred  and  thirty-two  volumes  of  manuscripts  relating  to  American 
history  for  the  years  1 758-1 785,  which  are  now  in  the  British  Museum. 
They  have  been  copied  for  the  Canadian  Archives,  and  have  been  cal- 
endared in  Brymner's  Reports.  Cf.  Winsor,  Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist., 
viii.  461.] 


THE    FALL   OF    QUEBEC 


313 


agara.     They  made  all  haste  in  that  direction,  but  on  arriv- 
ing in  the  neighbourhood  were  encountered  by  Sir  William 


Johnson  and  totally  defeated,  losing  all  their  principal  lead- 
ers, who  were  taken  prisoners.  Nothing  was  left  for  Pouchot 
but   to    surrender    his    fortress  and  men.     This  surrender, 


314  NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ExNGLAND 

which  was  made  on  the  24th  of  July,  was  the  final  blow  to 
the  French  in  the  west. 

While  these  things  were  going  on  at  Niagara,  General 
Amherst  with  thirteen  thousand  men  was  advancing  from 
the  Hudson  River  upon  Ticonderoga.  The  terrible  defences 
which  Montcalm  had  built,  and  which  had  cost  Abercrombie 
two  thousand  men  in  his  attempt  to  carry  them  by  storm, 
were  still  in  position  and  once  more  confronted  the  brave 
men  who  returned  to  the  spot.  Montcalm  was  no  longer  in 
General  command,  having  been  called  away  to  Quebec  to 
marches'  defend  that  supreme  position  against  the  expedi- 
liconder-  ^lon  ^Q^  ty  Wolfe.  Ticonderoga  was  now  com- 
°§a  manded  by   General   Bourlamaque,  who  made   as 

few  signs  of  life  as  possible.  Amherst  was  a  man  not  given 
to  erring  on  the  side  of  rashness.  Such  an  attempt  as 
Abercrombie' s  he  would  never  have  thought  of  making ; 
so  he  drew  up  his  army  before  the  works  and  studied  the 
situation.  His  meditations  were  interrupted  by  a  stupen- 
Tkon-  dous  explosion  which  scattered  one  of  the  forts  in 

sertedaand  fragments  through  the  air,  like  a  gigantic  Roman 
blown  up  candle.  This  explosion  represented  the  partial 
success  of  the  Frenchmen's  attempt  to  destroy  the  fort. 
Bourlamaque  had  been  instructed  by  Vaudreuil  not  to  offer 
serious  resistance  at  either  Ticonderoga  or  Crown  Point, 
where  a  defeat  would  endanger  his  being  cut  off  ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  was  to  withdraw  the  whole  length  of  Lake 
Champlain  to  the  river  Richelieu,  and  there  make  a  deter- 
mined stand,  where  his  line  of  retreat  would  be  tolerably 
secure.  In  these  prudent  instructions  we  see  how  great  had 
been  the  change  of  animus  in  the  French  commanders  during 
the  past  twelve  months.  They  had  ceased  to  despise  their 
adversary. 

The  faults  of  Amherst  as  a  commander  now  come  into 
the  foreground.  He  was  a  safe  and  prudent  commander, 
not  likely  to  commit  any  startling  blunder,  but  his  move- 


THE    FALL    OF    QUEBEC  315 

ments  were  marked  by  excessive  deliberation.  Instead  of 
pushing  and  harassing  Bourlamaque  with  might  and  main, 
he  devoted  too  much  attention  to  the  restoration  and  repair 
of  the  forts  at  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  a  kind  of 
work  which  might  have  been  left  for  another  season.  Am- 
herst was  the  commander-in-chief,  whose  objective  point  was 
some  position  where  he  might  cooperate  with  his 

r  °  l  Amherst's 

subordinate,  Wolfe,  in  what  all  agreed  to  be  the   ineffective 

.      .  . ,    .        ,         ,  ,  activity 

crowning  operation  of  the  war,  11  it  should  prove 
successful.     If  he  could  not  directly  cooperate  with  Wolfe, 
his  next   best  course  was  to  compel  Montcalm  to  weaken 


montcalm's  headquarters 

his  own  force  for  the  sake  of  helping  Bourlamaque  ;  and  the 
only  practicable  way  of  doing  this  was  to  push  Bourlamaque 
with  all  possible  persistence  and  fury  ;  but  this  Amherst  was 
far  from  doing.  His  conduct  of  the  campaign  was  busy, 
but  languid,  and  the  month  of  September  arrived  before  any 


316  NEW   FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

progress  had  been  made  in  disturbing  the  French  lines  at 
Isle  aux  Noix. 

Thus  the  problem  of  taking  Quebec  was  left  for  Wolfe  to 
solve  alone,  and  after  his  own  fashion.  It  seems  hardly 
necessary  to  cumber  the  narrative  with  the  numerous  details 
of  the  summer's  disappointing  work.  The  principal  ele- 
ments in  the  problem  were  as  follows  :  — 

The  city  of  Quebec  stands  on  the  summit  of  a  cliff  at 
least  two  hundred  feet  in  height  at  the  junction  of  the 
St.  Charles  River  with  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  oc- 
cupies  the  apex  of  the  cliff  between  the  two  rivers, 
and  looks  eastward  down  the  St.  Lawrence.  Below  the  St. 
Charles  the  distance  down  the  north  side  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  the  Montmorenci  is  six  miles.  The  bank  is  rather 
low,  but  precipitous,  with  a  low  beach  at  its  foot,  and  for 
some  distance  from  this  beach  the  river  is  shallow.  Nearly 
opposite  the  magnificent  cataract  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  by  which  the  Montmorenci  discharges  itself  is  the  island 
of  Orleans  in  mid-stream.  Between  this  large  island  and 
the  city  of  Quebec  six  miles  up-stream  the  width  of  the 
river  is  not  less  than  two  miles,  and  it  is  often  called  the 
Basin.  In  passing  Quebec,  a  name  which  means  "  The  Nar- 
row Place,"  the  stream  narrows  to  less  than  twelve  hundred 
yards,  so  that  in  Wolfe's  time  the  city  could  be  reached  by 
batteries  planted  on  the  south  side  of  the  stream  at  Point 
Levi,  although  the  French  had  been  disinclined  to  believe 
this. 

When  Wolfe  came  up  the  river  in  June  he  encamped  his 
army  upon  the  island  of  Orleans  and  upon  the  mainland  at 
Point  Levi,  and  surveyed  the  situation.  The  French  army, 
Theposi-  fourteen  thousand  strong,  was  encamped  behind 
Frenchthe  entrenchments  along  the  six  miles  of  low  cliff  be- 
forces  tween  the  St.  Charles  River  and  the  falls  of  Mont- 

morenci. The  lofty  cliff  above  the  city  had  small  sentry 
parties  posted  at   intervals   along  the  summit,  while   eight 


The  Landing  of  British  Troops  above  the  Town  of  Quebec 
With  distant  view  of  the  Battle,  Sept.  ij,  7759 


flfl 


THE    FALL   OF    QUEBEC 


317 


miles  above,  a  force  of  twenty-three  hundred  men  under 
Bougainville  was  posted  at  Cap  Rouge.  The  purpose  of 
this  latter  detachment  was  to  check  and  give  timely  warn- 


A 


BOUGAINVILLE 


ing  of  any  possible  movement  from  above  on  the  part  of 
Amherst,  should  he  succeed  in  getting  into  that  part  of  the 
world.  Now  Wolfe  was  a  good  enough  general  to  know  that 
Montcalm's  army  was  his  chief  objective  point  in  a  deeper 
sense  than  Quebec.  Unless  he  should  crush  the  French 
army,  the  position  of  Quebec  would  be  of  small  use  to  him, 


318  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

while  with  the  army  once  disposed  of,  Quebec  would  drop 
into  his  hands  like  a  ripe  apple.  The  difficult  question  was, 
how  to  get  at  the  French  army.  Their  position  between 
the  St.  Charles  and  the  Montmorenci  was  simply  inacces- 
sible. They  could  not  be  reached  from  English  batteries 
south  of  the  river,  and  it  was  impossible  for  any  English 
force  to  turn  their  left  flank  without  putting  itself  into  a 
very  dangerous  position,  where  it  would  be  liable  to  be  cut 
off  from  the  fleet  which  served  as  its  base.  The  greater 
part  of  July  was  spent  by  Wolfe  in  inspecting  the  eastern 
bank  of  the  Montmorenci  to  see  if  there  were  any  means 
of  attacking  there  ;  but  no  available  place  was  found,  and 
with  all  his  dare-devil  courage,  Wolfe  was  not  the  man  to 
risk  useless  sacrifice  of  life.  Besides,  even  if  a  vigorous 
attack  could  have  been  made  at  that  point,  the  French  could 
easily  withdraw,  for  their  supplies  came  to  them  from  the 
Thedifficui-  west.  A  flank  attack  on  the  west  of  their  line 
counted  by  the  St.  Charles  River  would  have  compelled 
Wolfe  them  to  stand  and  fight,  where  defeat  meant  ruin. 

But  for  the  English  to  land  in  that  locality  was  simply  im- 
possible. On  the  last  day  of  July,  apparently  for  the  sake 
of  doing  something  or  other,  Wolfe  landed  a  considerable 
force  on  the  low  ground  just  above  the  Montmorenci.  That 
he  did  not  intend  to  storm  is  obvious,  for  when  some  of  his 
brave  regiments  rushed  forward,  it  was  entirely  without 
orders,  in  pursuit  of  a  sudden  impulse,  and  a  deadly  fire  from 
the  French  infantry  soon  made  them  recoil.  A  large  part 
of  the  month  of  August  was  spent  by  the  young  general  on 
a  sick-bed,  attacked  by  a  complication  of  diseases  from  which 
there  was  small  hope  of  recovery ;  he  begged  only  to  live 
long  enough  to  solve  the  problem  which  Pitt  had  laid  before 
him.  To  his  physician  he  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  Doctor,  just 
„.  .„  patch  me  up  enough  for  this  business  and  I  '11  ask 

His  illness       *  F  S 

no  more  !  "      It  was  probably  while  tossing  on  that 
feverish  couch  that  his  mind  began  playing  with  the  thought 


THE    FALL   OF    QUEBEC  319 

which  presently  developed  into  a  stern  resolve.  If  a  land- 
ing could  not  be  effected  at  the  St.  Charles  in  face  of  a 
greatly  superior  force,  how  might  it  be  with  the  heights 
above  the  city,  which  were  watched  only  by  small  parties 
of  sentinels  ?  Wolfe  went  up  the  river  with  boats  and  in- 
spected the  bank  for  himself,  and  about  two  miles  above 
the  city,  at  a  place  called  Anse  du  Foulon,  he  detected  a 
zigzag  path  which  he  rightly  judged  led  to  the  summit  of  the 
well-nigh  perpendicular  cliff,  though  its  course  was  in  great 
part  hidden  by  stout  bushes.  At  the  summit  of  this  cliff 
the  point  of  land  upon  which  the  city  stood  opened  out  into 
a  wide  plateau,  known  from  some  old  settler  as  the 

Wolfe  plans 

Plains  of  Abraham.  If  a  force  could  be  landed  to  scale  the 
here  it  would  compel  Montcalm  to  come  and  at- 
tack, for  otherwise  his  food  supply  would  be  cut  off.  With 
this  end  in  view  Wolfe  increased  the  activity  of  his  men  in 
all  directions.  The  batteries  at  Point  Levi  had  been  throw- 
ing shot  and  shell  into  the  city  for  several  weeks,  and  had 

7^  ml  ZdiAoutJ^JL^ 

FACSIMILE    OF    AUTOGRAPH    OF    BOUGAINVILLE 

reduced  large  portions  of  it  to  ruins.  The  bombardment 
now  became  more  furious  than  ever.  One  move  which  he 
made  quite  puzzled  Montcalm,  but  conveyed  no  hint  of  what 
was  really  contemplated ;  the  greater  part  of  the  British 
force  was  moved  up  the  river  to  Cap  Rouge,  where  such 
demonstrations  were  made  as  completely  to  absorb  the  at- 
tention of  Bougainville.  Montcalm  was  inclined  to  regard 
the  movement  as  the  final  embarking  of  the  British  army 
preparatory  to  sailing  down-stream  and  away,  for  his  mind 


320 


NEW    FRANCE   AND    NEW   ENGLAND 


could  conceive  no  possible  alternative  for  Wolfe  except  the 
abandonment  of  the  enterprise.  With  regard  to  Wolfe  him- 
self, while  his  attitude  was  one  of  grim  determination,  it  can 
hardly  be  said  to  have  been  hopeful.     The  expedient  was 


one  from  which  success  might  come,  and  was  therefore  pre- 
ferable to  a  confession  of  failure.  One  circumstance  upon 
which  he  rested  some  hope  was  the  fact  that  boats  now  and 


THE    FALL   OF    QUEBEC  321 

then  succeeded  in  stealing  down  under  the  black  shadow  of 
the  lofty  bank  with  provisions  for  the  French  army  below. 
On  the  1 2th  of  September  all  was  in  readiness,  and  Wolfe 
made  such  demonstrations  below  the  city  that  Montcalm 
began  to  think  that  a  landing  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Charles 
might  be  intended,  and  that  thus  the  Lord  was  delivering  his 
enemy  into  his  hands.  At  the  same  time,  the  de-  Finai  pre. 
monstrations  against  Bougainville  were  redoubled,  Paratlons 
and  English  ships  kept  moving  from  point  to  point  in  such 
wise  as  to  strain  every  nerve  of  the  watchful  and  bewildered 
French.  In  the  course  of  the  day  Wolfe  called  to  him  his 
friend  Jervis,  afterward  celebrated  as  an  admiral,  and  told 
him  that,  he  had  a  presentiment  of  impending  death  ;  and 
taking  from  about  his  neck  a  small  chain  with  the  miniature 
of  the  lady  to  whom  he  was  betrothed,  he  gave  it  to  Jervis 
to  be  returned  to  her  in  case  he  should  not  survive  the  an- 
ticipated battle.  As  midnight  approached,  all  was  silent  at 
Cap  Rouge,  but  such  demonstrations  were  made  below  the 
city  that  Montcalm  was  on  horseback  all  night,  expecting 
an  attack  at  the  St.  Charles.  Meanwhile,  at  the  gleaming 
of  a  lantern  at  the  masthead  of  one  of  the  ships,  sixteen 
hundred  men  dropped  into  their  boats  and  waited  for  the 
ebb  of  the  tide.     Then,  at  the  momentary  flash  of 

'  J  The  start 

another  lantern,  all   began  rowing  down-stream  in 
the  dark  shadow  of  the  cliff.     Twice  they  were  challenged 
by  sentinels  above,  but  an  officer  who  spoke  French  fluently 
replied  that  they  were  boats  with  provisions  for  Montcalm. 

Wolfe  sat  buried  in  thought,  occasionally  repeating  aloud 
verses  from  Gray's  "  Elegy,"  which  had  been  published  a  few 
years  before;  and  one  line, 

"  The  paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave," 

betrayed  what  was  passing  in  his  mind.  "  Gentlemen,"  he 
said  to  the  officers  with  him,  "  I  would  rather  be  the  author 
of  that  poem  than  take  Quebec."     When  they  reached  the 


32: 


NEW  FRANCE  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 


landing-place,  the  head  of  the  column  went  ashore,  under  the 
lead  of  William  Howe,  youngest  brother  of  the  gen- 

The  3.scGrit 

eral  who  had  been  killed  at  Ticonderoga.  As  the 
sixteen  hundred  landed,  the  zigzag  path  was  overcrowded, 
but  there  were  so  many  bushes  as  to  afford  an  abundance  of 


SIR    WILLIAM    HOWE 


handles  and  footholds  on  that  steep  precipice.  The  height 
of  the  climb  was  a  little  over  two  hundred  feet,  or  about  the 
same  as  that  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument.  But  at  length  it 
was  safely  accomplished,  and  just  as  the  first  streaks  of  dawn 
glimmered  on  the  eastern  horizon,  the  gallant  Howe  with  his 
men  leaped  upon  the  summit  and  scattered  the  French  sen- 
tinels, who  were  seized  with  panic  and  stood  not  upon  the 


THE    FALL   OF    QUEBEC 


323 


GENERAL   JAMES    WOLFE 


order  of  their  going.  It  was  still  early  dawn  when  the  six- 
teen hundred  were  drawn  up  in  order  on  the  Plains  of  Abra- 
ham. Other  boats  were  following  close  behind,  and  by  six 
o'clock  three  thousand  more  had  climbed  the  rocky  wall. 
The  alarm  was  now  spreading  in  many  directions,  but  it  was 
a  long  march  for  any  of  the  French  forces  to  reach  the  spot 
where  Wolfe  stood.     When  the  tidings  came  to 

_  _  .       .  .  .  „  _,  7     .  Complete 

Montcalm  his  countenance  fell.     "This  is  a  very   surprise  of 
serious  business,"  he  said,  and  instantly  put  a  large 
portion  of  his  force  under  marching  orders.     Not  a  moment 
was  to  be  lost,  for  Wolfe  on  the  Heights  of  Abraham  was 


324  NEW   FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

in  possession  of  his  line  of  communication.  Nothing  was  to 
be  done  but  to  go  and  fight  the  English  in  a  position  where 
defeat  meant  destruction.  By  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning 
Montcalm  had  about  five  thousand  men  on  the  plateau,  while 
Wolfe  was  waiting  for  the  numbers  of  the  French  to  reach  a 
point  where  their  defeat  might  be  final ;  for  now  Wolfe  had 
good  grounds  for  confidently  expecting  victory.  Only  two 
thousand  of  the  force  opposed  to  him  were  French  regulars. 
The  rest  were  Canadian  militia,  unsurpassed  in  bush  fighting, 
but  hardly  fit  to  withstand  a  charge  of  British  grenadiers. 
The  attack  was  made  by  the  French,  who  rushed 
forward  with  great  spirit.  Wolfe's  orders  to  his 
men,  like  those  of  Prescott  in  later  days  at  Bunker  Hill, 
were  to  withhold  their  fire  until  the  enemy  were  within  very 
close  range.  This  order  was  strictly  obeyed.  When  the 
volley  was  delivered,  it  made  sad  havoc  in  the  French  ranks, 
and  when  the  British  followed  it  with  a  solid  bayonet  charge 
on  the  double-quick,  the  French  line  was  hopelessly  broken. 
The  firing  in  some  parts  of  the  field  remained  very  brisk  on 
both  sides.  In  crossing  an  exposed  place  Wolfe  received  a 
ball  in  the  wrist  which  shattered  the  arm,  but  he  tied  it  up 
with  his  handkerchief  and  kept  on.  Presently  a  second  ball 
struck  him  in  the  groin  without  causing  him  to  stop,  and  al- 
most immediately  afterward  a  third  passed  through  one  of 
his  lungs.  As  he  staggered,  he  was  seized  by  four  men,  who 
carried  him  to  the  rear  and  laid  him  upon  the  ground.  He 
was  already  somewhat  comatose,  when  one  of  the  officers 
exclaimed,  "My  God  !  see  how  they  run  !  "  "  Who  run  ?  " 
exclaimed  Wolfe,  rousing  himself.  "The  enemy,"  replied 
the  officer,  "  is  giving  way  everywhere."  The  young  gener- 
al's eyes  lighted  up  once  more  as  he  eagerly  cried  out,  "  Go, 
Death  of  one  °f  you»  my  ^s» t0  Colonel  Burton  and  tell  him 
Wolfe  ^0  march  down  to  the  Charles  River  Bridge  and 

cut  off  their  retreat ;  "  then,  turning  upon  his  side,  he  mur- 
mured, "  Now,  God  be  praised,  I  will  die  in  peace." 


326  NEW    FRANCE    AND    NEW   ENGLAND 

For  Montcalm,  too,  the  final  summons  had  come,  and  he 
was  no  more  to  see  the  beautiful  Provencal  home  for  which 
he  had  so  wearily  yearned.  As  he  was  approaching  one  of 
the  gates  of  the  city,  mounted  on  his  black  horse,  a  bullet 
was  lodged  in  his  chest,  which  in  the  intensity  of  excitement 
he  seemed  hardly  to  feel.  As  he  passed  through  the  gate  a 
Death  of  Party  of  women,  seeing  the  blood  streaming  down 
Montcalm  his  waistcoat,  burst  into  loud  lamentations :  "  He 
is  killed  !  The  Marquis  is  killed  !  "  "  Do  not  weep  for  me, 
my  children,"  said  he,  "it  's  nothing."  But,  as  he  said  the 
words,  he  fell  from  his  horse  and  was  caught  in  the  arms  of 
his  officers.  When  the  surgeon  informed  him  that  the 
wound  was  mortal,  his  reply  was,  "  So  much  the  better.  I 
shall  not  live  to  see  Quebec  surrendered." 

Thus  came  to  a  close  one  of  the  greatest  scenes  in  the 
history  of  mankind,  the  final  act  in  the  drama  which  gave 
the  North  American  continent  into  the  keeping  of  the  Eng- 
lish race  instead  of  the  French  ;  and  perhaps  there  has 
never  been  a  historic  drama  in  which  the  leading  parts 
have  been  played  by  men  of  nobler  stuff  than  Montcalm 
and  Wolfe.  After  the  fall  of  Quebec  there  could  be  no 
doubt  that  the  fate  of  Canada  was  decided.  The  capture  of 
Montreal  by  Amherst  in  the  following  summer  was  like  an 
appendix  to  a  tale  already  told. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abenakis,  Algonquin  Indians  in  Maine,  214. 
See  also  Norridgewock. 

Abercrombie,  James,  English  general,  arrives 
with  Loudoun,  276 ;  commands  on  the 
Hudson,  286;  autograph  of, 286;  expedition 
against  Ticonderoga,  286-293 ;  assault,  294  ; 
retreat,  294  ;  ridiculed,  295. 

Acadia,  meaning  of  the  word,  44;  occupation 
by  Monts,  44-52 ;  Madame  de  Guercheville 
buys  Monts's  claim,  70;  restored  to  France, 
84,  90;  Alexander's  grant,  86;  La  Tour's 
rule,  86,87;  contest  between  La  Tour  and 
D'Aunay,  88-90;  conquest  by  New  Eng- 
land, 90;  Temple's  grant,  90;  passes  finally 
to  England,  213;  extent,  214,  226.  See  also 
Canada,  Port  Royal. 

Account  of  the  Louisburg  Expedition,  Shir- 
ley's, facsimile  title  of,  229. 

Adirondacks,  Algonquin    Indians  in  Canada, 

39,  58- 

Africa,  Dieppe  traders  on  western  coast,  2. 

Albany  Congress,  purpose,  252  ;  attendance, 
252  ;  plan  of  union,  252. 

Alexander,  Sir  William,  grant  of  Nova  Scotia, 
86;  portrait  of,  87. 

Algonquin  Indians,  displace  Iroquois  on  the 
St.  Lawrence,  39;  fruitful  stock,  39;  friend- 
ship necessary  to  the  French,  57, 58  ;  charac- 
ter of  Canadian,  58;  in  Maine,  214;  tribes 
in  the  Ohio  valley,  238. 

Allefonsce,  Jean,  Roberval's  lieutenant,  sent 
to  find  Verrazano  Sea,  21;  mistaken  ideas 
on  his  voyage,  22  ;  narrative,  22  ;  Vumenot's 
account,  22  ;  true  course,  22 ;  voyages,  fac- 
simile title  of,  23  ;  on  the  Hudson  River, 
24 ;  probable  object  of  voyage,  24 ;  rejoins 
Roberval,  28  ;  death,  28. 

Allouez,  Claude,  Jesuit  missionary,  explores 
Lake  Superior,  94  ;  hears  of  the  Mississippi, 
98;  oration  to  the  Indians,  100;  autograph 
of,  100. 

America  considered  the  Devil's  domain,  131. 

Amherst,  Sir  Jeffry,  English  commander-in- 
chief  in  America,  284 ;  portrait  of,  285 ; 
expedition  against  Louisburg,  298-301 ;  goes 
to  the  Hudson,  301;  plan  of  campaign  for 
1759,  311;  advance  on  Ticonderoga,  314; 
fails  to  support  Wolfe,  314;  captures  Mon- 
treal, 326. 

Andastes,  name  for  the  Susquehannocks,  43. 

Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  preserves  friendship  of 
Iroquois,  96;  rule  in  Massachusetts,  184. 

Annapolis,  N.  S.     See  Port  Royal. 

Antinomianism  and  the  Great  Awakening, 
206. 

Argall,  Samuel,  autograph  of,  71  ;  attacks  the 
French  at  Mount  Desert,  71,  72  ;  burns  Port 
Royal,  72. 

Army,  English,  Braddock's  force,  255;  igno- 
rant of  Indian  warfare,  256:  character  of 
Johnson's  force,  268  ;  rank  of  colonial  offi- 


cers, 278  ;  Abercrombie's  force,  286 ;  force 
against  Louisburg,  298 ;  Forbes's  force, 
304;  in  1759,  310. 

Army,  French,  force  sent  over  with  Dieskau, 
255  ;  character  of  the  Indian  allies,  270,  280, 
282-284  ;  a*  Quebec,  316. 

Assemblies,  colonial,  reluctance  to  grant 
funds,  220,  237,  247,  248,  250,  258. 

Attiwendaronks,  kin  to  the  Five  Nations,  43 ; 
refuse  to  join  the  confederacy,  43  ;  conse- 
quent annihilation,  43. 

Aubert,  Thomas,  alleged  voyage  on  St.  Law- 
rence River,  4,  5. 

Aubry,  French  partisan,  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  relieve  F'ort  Niagara,  312. 

Austrian  Succession,  war  of  the,  225,  226. 

Baptists  profit  by  the  Great  Awakening,  212. 

Baxter,  Joseph,  Puritan  missionary  in  Maine, 
controversy  with  Rale,  217. 

Beaujeu,  second  in  command  at  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  261  waylays  Braddock,  261  ;  death, 
262. 

Bertrand's  Lettre  Missive,  facsimile  title  of, 
68. 

Bethencourt,  Jean  de,  Norman  knight,  colo- 
nizes Canary  Islands,  1. 

Biencourt,  son  of  Poutrincourt,  in  France,  65, 
69 ;  and  Argall,  72 ;  rebuilds  Port  Royal, 
74  ;  death,  86. 

Booth,  Elizabeth,  and  the  Salem  witchcraft, 
144.     See  also  Salem  Village. 

Boscawen,  Edward,  English  admiral,  por- 
trait of,  299 ;  expedition  against  Louis- 
burg, 298. 

Boston,  Ann  Hibbins  witchcraft  case,  132- 
135;  Goodwin  witchcraft  case,  135,  137-141. 

Bougainville,  Louis,  portrait  of,  317  ;  auto- 
graph of,  319. 

Boulle,  Helen,  marries  Champlain,  74;  in 
Canada,  82  ;  religious  zeal,  82. 

Bouquet,  Henry,  English  colonel,  with 
Forbes,  304;  portrait  of,  305. 

Bourlamaque,  Chevalier  de,  French  general, 
evacuates  Ticonderoga,  314. 

Braddock,  Edward,  English  general,  auto- 
graph of,  254;  sent  to  America,  254  ;  prepa- 
ration to  march  against  Fort  Duquesne,  256, 
258;  character,  256;  underestimates  the  In- 
dians and  militia,  256-258,  260;  mistake  in 
route,  258;  march,  258-261  ;  not  ambushed, 
261;  defeat,  262;  bravery,  262;  plan  of  his 
defeat,  262 ;  view  of  his  battlefield,  263 ; 
death,  264;  retreat  of  his  forces,  264. 

Bradstreet,  John,  trial  for  witchcraft,  134. 

Bradstreet,  John,  English  colonel,  ability,  301 ; 
autograph  of,  301 ;  captures  Fort  Frontenac, 
302. 

Brattle,  Thomas,  autograph  of,  185;  liberal 
views,  185;  gives  land  for  Brattle  Church, 


33° 


INDEX 


Brattle,  William,  autograph  of,  185  ;  liberal 
views,  185. 

Brattle  Church,  Boston,  founded,  187;  condi- 
tions of  membership,  187  ;  recognized,  188. 

Brazil,  Huguenot  colony,  29. 

Brebeuf,  Jean  de,  Jesuit  missionary,  arrives 
in  Canada,  83. 

Brief  Recit,  Cartier's,  facsimile  title  of,  17. 

Brief  and  True  Narrative,  A ,  Lawson's,  fac- 
simile title  of,  151. 

British  Colonies  and  Northern  New  France, 
map  showing,  238. 

Brittany,  France,  race  characteristics,  1 ; 
mariners,  2 ;  interest  in  Newfoundland  fish- 
eries, 3 ;  objects  to  trade  monopoly  in 
Canada,  32,  51. 

Bunker  Hill  and  Ticonderoga,  293. 

Burnet,  William,  governor  of  New  York, 
builds  fort  at  Oswego,  237. 

Burroughs,  George,  arrested  for  witchcraft, 
153;  accusation,  158;  execution,  170. 

Bury  St.  Edmunds,  England,  witchcraft  trial, 
126-128. 

Cahiague,  Canada,  Huron  village,  Champlain 
at,  79. 

Calef,  Robert,  and  Cotton  Mather,  136;  on 
the  witchcraft  trials,  147  n.,  170. 

Calef,  Robert,  facsimile  letter  of,  147. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  execution  of  a  witch,  132. 

Cambridge  Platform,  fall,  188 ;  some  results, 
194. 

Canada,  early  explorations,  5,  7;  early  at- 
tempt at  settlement,  6;  Cartier's  explora- 
tions, 10-19;  first  use  of  name,  12;  Rober- 
val's  attempted  colony,  19-21,  25-28;  hunt- 
ing on  snow-shoes  in,  27 ;  fur-trade  mono- 
poly, 32^4, 44,  51,  53,  54;  Champlain's  first 
voyage,  36;  change  in  Indian  inhabitants, 
36-39 ;  Champlain's  second  voyage,  54 ; 
first  settlement,  54;  beginnings  _  of  Indian 
policy,  57-59,  62,  63  ;  Indian  missionaries, 
79,  82,  96 ;  rivalry  of  interests,  82 ;  Riche- 
lieu's measures  for  settlement,  83  ;  religious 
uniformity  required,  83 ;  captured  by  the 
English  in  1628,  84;  restored  to  France, 
86  ;  inland  explorations,  91-93,  97  ;  interest 
of  Louis  XIV. ,  97  ;  policy  of  development, 
96 ;  route  to  the  interior,  97 ;  possession 
taken  of  the  Northwest,  99-101  ;  La  Salle's 
expedition  to  the  Ohio,  102-105  »  explora- 
tion of  the  Mississippi,  106-108;  scheme 
for  empire  in  the  Mississippi  valley,  108- 
112,  120;  Louisiana  added  to  French  pos- 
sessions, 119;  irrepressible  conflict  with 
English  colonies,  213,  217  ;  importance  of 
Kennebec  River  to,  214;  policy  against 
English  settlements,  217,  218;  loss  of  the 
control  of  the  Kennebec,  221  ;  loss  of  Lou- 
isburg  in  1745,  225-233;  development  of 
scheme  of  empire,  234;  menace  in  the  Eng- 
lish advance  into  the  Ohio  valley,  236,  238; 
decline  of  influence  over  the  Indians,  236- 
239  ;  possession  and  occupation  of  Ohio  val- 
ley, 239-248  ;  restored  control  of  the  interior, 
279;  strategic  points,  296;  Pitt  resolves  to 
destroy,  310;  English  conquer,  326.  See 
also  Acadia,  French  and  Indian  War,  New- 
foundland. 

Canary  Islands,  Bethencourt  colonizes,  1. 

Caniengas,  name  for  Mohawks,  40. 

Canseau,  Nova  Scotia,  captured  by  the 
French,  250. 

Cape  Breton,  named,  4. 


Cartier,  Jacques,  early  career,  10;  first  voyage, 
11  ;  his  manor  house,  11 ;  portrait  of  (facing), 
12;  A  Shorte  and  Brief  Relation,  fac- 
simile title  of,  13  ;  Brief  Recii,  facsimile 
title  of,  17  ;  second  voyage,  11  ;  explores  St. 
Lawrence  River,  12;  at  Stadacona,  14:  visit 
to  Hochelaga,  14-18 ;  winter  quarters  at 
Stadacona,  18;  return  voyage,  19;  captain- 
general,  19;  third  voyage,  20;  and  Rober- 
val,  20;  brings  Roberval  back  to  France, 
28;  death,  28. 

Caughnawaga,  Canada,  village  of  converted 
Iroquois,  236. 

Cavelier  family,  101.     See  also  La  Salle. 

Cavelier,  Jean,  brother  of  La  Salle,  101. 

Cayugas,  Iroquois  Indians,  40 ;  segregated 
from  the  Onondagas,  42.    See  also  Iroquois. 

Celoron  de  Bienville,  takes  possession  of 
Ohio  valley  for  France,  238-242 ;  portrait 
of,  239;  facsimile  of  plates,  241;  and  La 
Demoiselle,  242. 

Champlain,  Samuel,  photogravure  portrait  of, 
36;  birth,  34;  religion,  34,  53,  74;  charac- 
ter, 34,  52,  86 ;  in  the  West  Indies  and 
Mexico,  35;  suggests  a  canal  at  Panama, 
36 ;  and  Pontgrave,  36 ;  first  voyage  to 
Canada,  36 ;  Des  Sauvages,  facsimile  title  of, 
37  ;  on  coast  of  New  England,  45-49 ;  pur- 
pose of  the  exploration,  48,  49  ;  his  Map  of 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  48;  Plan  of 
Plymouth  Harbour,  49 ;  greeting  at  Port 
Royal,  49  ;  Plan  of  the  Settlement  at  Port 
Royal,  50 ;  his  knightly  Order  of  Good 
Times,  50 ;  interest  in  Canada,  52  ;  return 
to  Canada,  54  ;  founds  Quebec,  54;  Plan 
of  Quebec,  55;  puts  down  treason,  56; 
makes  alliance  with  Algonquins  and  Hu- 
rons,  57-59 ;  first  expedition  against  the 
Iroquois,  59-64;  great  consequences,  62,64  \ 
fight  with  the  Indians  (from  Lenox  Collec- 
tion), 73 ;  second  encounter  with  the  Iro- 
quois, 74;  married,  74;  founds  Montreal, 
75 ;  viceregal  lieutenant,  76 ;  controls  the 
fur-trade,  76;  interests  merchants,  76; 
seeks  the  western  sea,  76;  among  the  Ot- 
tawas,  76;  brings  Recollets  to  Canada,  79; 
attacks  an  Iroquois  village,  79-82  ;  defends 
Quebec  against  Kirke,  84 ;  surrenders,  84  ; 
governor,  84 ;  Les  Voyages,  facsimile  title 
of,  85  ;  last  days,  86, 

Charles  River,  Mass.,  Champlain  enters,  47. 

Charlestown,  Mass.,  execution  of  a  witch,  131. 

Charlevoix,  P.  F.  X.  de,  Jesuit  historian,  on 
the  coureurs  de  bois,  97. 

Charter,  new,  for  Massachusetts,  184.  See 
also  Grants. 

Chastes,  Aymar  de,  aid  to  Henry  IV.,  32  ; 
joins  Pontgrave's  monopoly,  32  ;  death,  44. 

Chauvin,  Pierre,  monopoly  of  the  fur-trade, 
32  ;  death,  32. 

Chesapeake  Bay  and  Verrazano  Sea,  9. 

Church  and  State  in  Massachusetts,  opposi- 
tion to  theocracy  and  growth  of  toryism, 
181,  183;  overthrow  of  theocracy,  184,  187. 

Churchill,  Sarah,  and  the  Salem  witchcraft, 
844.     See  also  Salem  Village. 

Clergy  of  Massachusetts  and  the  Salem  witch- 
craft, 156-158. 

Colman,  Benjamin,  liberal  views,  185  ;  por- 
trait of,  186;  pastor  of  Brattle  Church,  187. 

Colonies,  English,  purpose,  96  *,  frontier 
growth,  216,  234,  238;  incite  Indian  raids, 
217;  governors  and  legislatures,  220,  236, 
246,  247,  250,  258;  effect  of  growth  on  New 


INDEX 


33i 


France,  236-238 ;  increased  influence  with 
the  Indians,  236-239,  240;  intercolonial  re- 
lationship in  1754,  251;  rejection  of  the 
Albany  Plan,  254  ;  results  of  rejection,  254  ; 
troops  raised  for  campaign  of  1759,  310.  See 
also  New  England  and  colonies  by  name. 

Colonies,  French,  attempt  at  Sable  Island,  6; 
attempted  Huguenot,  29  ;  and  the  fur-trade 
interests,  82.  See  also  Acadia,  Canada, 
Louisiana. 

Conde,  Henri,  Prince  of,  viceroy  of  New 
France,  76. 

Conestogas,  name  for  the  Susquehannocks,  43. 

Congregationalism,  innovations  of  Brattle 
Church,  187;  Saybrook  Platform,  196-198; 
condition  in  early  years  of  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, 200-202  ;  outgrowth  of  Halfway  Cove- 
nant, 201  ;  effect  of  Edwards's  teachings, 
203.     See  also  Great  Awakening. 

Congress  of  1754,  members  of,  facsimile,  auto- 
graphs, 252. 

Connecticut,  civil  liberalism,  192 ;  increased 
conservatism,  193-199;  Saybrook  Platform, 
196-198  ;  founding  of  Yale  College,  198- 
200;  opposition  to  the  Great  Awakening, 
209 ;  share  in  the  Louisburg  expedition, 
227  ;  troops  for  campaign  of  1759,  310. 

Contrecceur  commands  Fort  Duquesne,  66, 
261. 

Corey,  Giles,  character,  148  ;  charged  with 
witchcraft,  164  ;  pressed  to  death,  165. 

Corey,  Martha,  wife  of  Giles,  character,  148 ; 
accused  of  witchcraft,  150;  facsimile  of  ex- 
amination papers,  163;  condemned,  164; 
executed,  168. 

Cortereal,  Caspar,  voyage,  6. 

Corwin  House,  Salem,  145. 

Courcelle,  Sieur  de,  governor  of  Canada,  94  ; 
invades  the  Iroquois  country,  94 ;  recalled, 
105- 

Coureurs  de  bois,  origin  and  nature,  97 ;  pic- 
ture of,  98. 

Crown  Point,  N.  Y.,  Johnson  to  attack,  268  ; 
strategic  value,  296 ;  evacuated  by  the 
French,  314.     See  also  Ticonderoga. 

Crowne,  William,  English  grant  of  Acadia, 
89. 

Cullender,  Rose,  trial  for  witchcraft,  126-128 

Dacotah  Indians,  first  contact  with  whites,  92  ; 
character,  99. 

Dagonoweda,  Mohawk  chief,  helps  establish 
Iroquois  confederacy,  42. 

Dale,  Sir  Thomas,  governor  of  Virginia,  auto- 
graph of,  71  ;  and  the  Jesuits,  72. 

D'Aunay  Charnisay,  Charles,  Seigneur,  con- 
test with  La  Tour  in  Acadia,  88 ;  supported 
by  the  king,  88;  death,  88;  widow  marries 
La  Tour,  89. 

Davenport,  James,  revivalist,  eccentricities, 
206;  arrested,  209.  • 

Davenport,  John,  opposes  Halfway  Cove- 
nant, 183. 

De  Caen,  Emery,  trade  monopoly  in  Canada, 
83 ;  abolished,  83. 

Delaware  Indians  in  Ohio  valley,  238 ;  be- 
come English  allies,  309. 

Demarcation,  bull  of,  opinion  of  Francis  I.,  7. 

Demoiselle,  La,  Miami  chief,  and  Celoron, 
242 ;  killed,  242. 

Denys,  Jean,  French  navigator  alleged  chart, 

4.5- 

Dernieres  Decouvertes,  Tonty's,  facsimile  title 
of,  109. 


Desceliers,   Pierre,  French  hydrographer,  at 

Dieppe,  29. 
Des  Sauvages.  Champlain's,  facsimile  title  of, 

37- 

Diaz  de  Castillo,  Bernal,  Spanish  historian, 
on  Verrazano  and  Francis  I.,  7. 

Dieppe,  France,  early  trade  with  Africa,  2: 
and  the  Newfoundland  fisheries,  29 ;  as  a 
centre  of  nautical  science,  29;  objects  to 
the  fur-trade  monopoly,  32.  See  also  Nor- 
mandy. 

Dieskau,  Baron,  French  general,  sent  to 
America,  255  ;  advance  from  Crown  Point, 
269;  autograph  of,  270;  ambushes  John- 
son's scouts,  271 ;  repulsed  by  Johnson, 
271  ;   captured,  271. 

Dinwiddie,  Robert,  governor  of  Virginia, 
sends  Washington  to  warn  off  the  French, 
244 ;  attempt  to  build  a  fort  at  Pittsburg 
frustrated,  246 ;  autograph  of,  246 ;  war 
measures  impeded  by  the  legislature,  246, 
250. 

Dongan,  Thomas,  governor  of  New  York, 
preserves  Iroquois  friendship,  96. 

Donnacona,  Canadian  chief,  14 ;  taken  to 
France,  19. 

Dorchester,  Mass.,  execution  of  a  witch,  132. 

Drucour,  Chevalier  de,  French  general,  com- 
mands Louisburg,  297. 

Dudley,  Joseph,  founder  of  New  England 
Toryism,  181  ;  governor  of  Massachusetts, 
191;  and  the  Mathers,  191. 

Dummer,  William,  lieutenant-governor  of 
Massachusetts,  portrait  of,  219  ;  conflict 
with  the  Assembly,  220. 

Dunbar,  Thomas,  commands  Braddock's  rear 
detachment  and  retreats,  264. 

Duny,  Amy,  trial  for  witchcraft,  126-128. 

Duquesne,  Marquis,  governor  of  Canada, 
autograph  of,  243  ;  sends  expedition  to  Ohio 
valley,  243  ;  recalled,  255. 

Duval,  treason  at  Quebec,  56. 

Easton,  Penn.,  convention  of  Indian  chiefs, 
309. 

Easty,  Mary,  accusation  and  trial  for  witch- 
craft, 160-164;  petition,  165-168;  execu- 
tion, 168. 

Edict  of  Nantes  issued,  31. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  photogravure  portrait, 
(facing)  202 ;  greatness,  202 ;  mysticism, 
202;  emphasis  on  conversion,  203;  revival 
of  1734,  204;  A  Faithful  Narrative,  fac- 
simile title,  207;  quarrel  with  his  church, 
210;  facsimile  of  letter,  211;  president  of 
Princeton,  212. 

Elizabeth,  empress  of  Russia,  and  the  Seven 
Years'  War,  273. 

Elmina,  Gold  Coast,  founded  by  Dieppe 
traders,  3. 

England,  captures  Acadia  and  Quebec  in 
1628,  84;  restores  them,  84;  purpose  of 
colonial  enterprise,  96;  witchcraft  trials, 
126-128,  130;  Witch  Act,  130;  irrepressible 
conflict  with  France  in  America,  213,  217; 
in  the  war  of  the  Austrian  Succession,  225; 
first  troops  sent  for  French  and  Indian  War 
255 ;  declares  war  on  France,  273  ;  allied 
with  Prussia,  273.  See  also  Colonies, 
French  and  Indian  War. 

Entraigues,  Henriette  d',  Henry  IV. 's  mis- 
tress, and  the  Jesuits,  66. 

Erie,  Penn.     See  Presqu'  Isle. 

Eries,  kin  ot  Five  Nations,  43  ;  refuse  to  join 


332 


INDEX 


confederacy,   43 ;   consequent    annihilation, 
43- 
Europe,  condition  at  end  of  sixteenth  century, 
30. 

Fagundes,  Alvarez,  Portuguese  navigator, 
voyage,  6. 

Faithful  Narrative,  A ,  Jonathan  Edwards's, 
facsimile  title  of,  207. 

Five  Nations.     See  Iroquois. 

Florida,  Huguenot  colony,  29. 

Forbes,  John,  English  general,  antograph  of, 
304 ;  character,  304 ;  expedition  against 
Fort  Duquesne,  304  ;  lieutenants  and  force, 
304;  route,  304;  method  of  advance,  304- 
306;  Grant's  defeat,  308;  finds  the  fort  de- 
serted, 309;  death,  309. 

Fort  Crevecceur,  111.,  built,  116;  mutiny  and 
destruction,  118. 

Fort  Duquesne  (Pittsburg),  importance  of 
location,  236,  238,  296;  rival  English  colo- 
nial claims  to  site,  243  ;  English  attempt  to 
build  a  fort,  246;  French  build,  246;  plan 
of,  247 ;  Braddock  prepares  to  march 
against,  256-258;  his  march,  258-260; 
French  force,  261 ;  defeat  of  Braddock,  261- 
264 ;  English  retreat,  264  ;  effect  of  destruc- 
tion of  Fort  Frontenac,  303,  308 ;  Forbes's 
expedition  against,  304-308  ;  isolated  and 
abandoned,  309;  named  Fort  Pitt,  309. 

Fort  Edward,  N.  Y.,  built,  269;  Webb's 
force  at,  281. 

Fort  Frontenac  (Kingston),  Canada,  built, 
114;  plan  of,  114;  La  Salle  commands  and 
rebuilds,  1 15  ;  strategic  value,  296,  303  ;  cap- 
tured, 302  ;  destroyed,  302  ;  view  of,  303. 

Fort  Le  Boeuf,  Penn.,  French  blockhouse, 
243  ;   Washington  at,  246. 

Fort  Lyman.     See  Fort  Edward. 

Fort  Necessity,  Penn.,  Washington  builds, 
249;  battle  and  surrender,  249 

Fort  Niagara,  N.  Y  ,  failure  of  Shirley's  ex- 
pedition against,  266,  272  ;  Prideaux's  ex- 
pedition against,  311;  relief  routed,  312; 
surrender,  313. 

Fort  Stanwix  (Rome),  N.  Y.,  built,  302;  pur- 
pose, 303. 

Fort  William  Henry,  N.  Y.,  Montcalm  ad- 
vances against,  280-282 ;  reinforced,  281 ; 
siege,  281  ;  surrender,  282  ;  massacre,  282. 

France,  war  with  Spain,  7,  10  ;  civil  wars,  28  ; 
condition  at  end  of  sixteenth  century,  30; 
policy  in  America,  56-58,  96,  108-112,  120; 
takes  possession  of  the  Northwest,  99-101; 
claim  to  the  Mississippi  valley,  119;  irre- 
pressible conflict  with  England  in  America, 
213,  217;  in  war  of  Austrian  Succession, 
225  ;  first  troops  sent  for  French  and  In- 
dian War,  255  ;  England  declares  war,  273  ; 
in  the  Seven  Years'  War,  273  ;  disasters  in 
1759,  220.  See  also  Canada,  French  and 
Indian  War 

Francis  I.  of  France,  portrait  of,  5;  on  the 
bull  of  demarcation,  7;  capture,  10;  creates 
a  viceroyalty  in  the  New  World,  19,  24. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  Albany  Plan,  252  ;  and 
Braddock,  257  ;  portrait  of,  259 ;  on  Lou- 
doun, 276. 

Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia,  and  the  Seven 
Years'  War,  273 ;  allied  with  England, 
273- 

French  and  Indian  War,  first  movements, 
246-250;  French  and  English  troops  sent 
to   America,    255;    first   naval   battle,    256; 


first  comprehensive  plan,  258,  266;  war  de- 
clared, 273;  strategic  points,  296;  English 
preparations  for  campaign  of  1759,  310; 
plan  of  campaign  of  1759,  311.  See  also 
fortified  places  and  generals  by  name. 

Frontenac,  Louis  de  Buade,  Count  of,  gov- 
ernor of  Canada,  105  ;  character  and  influ- 
ence over  the  Indians,  105;  autograph  of, 
105. 

Frontier,  advance  of  English  settlements,  234- 
239 ;  Indian  depredations,  273.  See  also 
Kennebec  River,  Ohio  valley. 

Fry,  Joshua,  colonel  Virginia  militia,  on  the 
frontier,  248. 

Frye,  Jonathan,  in  Lovewell's  fight,  224 ; 
death,  224  ;  verses  on,  225. 

Fur-trade,  early  French,  on  the  Hudson,  24  ; 
monopoly  of  Canadian,  31-33,43,  51,  53,  83; 
Champlain  controls,  76 ;  interests  opposed 
to  settlement,  82;  route,  96,  236;  diversion 
to  the  English,  237. 

Gage,  Thomas,  lieutenant-colonel  under  Brad- 
dock, 261. 

Gallows  Hill,  Salem,  161. 

Gastaldi,  Jacopo,  Italian  geographer,  map,  24. 

Gates,  Horatio,  with  Braddock,  261. 

General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  character 
under  new  charter,  169. 

Geneva,  Switzerland,  execution  of  witches, 
129. 

Geography,  alleged  chart  of  Denys,  4-6 ; 
Luiz's  map,  6 ;  Verrazano's  map,  9 ;  Mag- 
giolo's  map,  9 ;  Verrazano  Sea,  9 ;  carto- 
graphical union  of  Hudson  and  St.  Law- 
rence rivers,  24. 

George  II.,  oath  of  allegiance  to,  236. 

Germany,  last  execution  for  witchcraft,  131; 
emigration  to  the  English  colonies,  235. 

Gist,  Christopher,  with  Washington,  244 ; 
autograph  of,  244  ;  journal,  246  n. 

Glover,  Mrs.,  of  Boston,  executed  for  witch- 
craft, 135  ;  confession,  137. 

Good,  Sarah,  accused  of  witchcraft,  146;  ex- 
ecution, 165. 

Goodwin,  John,  his  children  bewitched,  135  ; 
Cotton  Mather's  connection  with  the  case, 
I37-I39- 

Governors,  English  colonial,  conflicts  with  the 
Assemblies,  220,  221,  236,  246,  248,  250,  258. 

Grant,  James,  English  major,  portrait  of,  307; 
disastrous  reconnoissance  on  Fort  Du- 
quesne, 308  ;  contempt  for  provincials,  308. 

Grants,  fur-trade  monopoly,  31-33,  44,  53,  8? ; 
of  Acadia  to  Monts,  44;  Madame  de 
Guercheville's,  70  ;  of  Nova  Scotia  to  Alex- 
ander, 86  ;  of  Acadia  to  Temple,  89.  See 
also  Charter. 

Grave,  Francois.     See  Pontgrave. 

Great  Awakening  of  1734,  203,  207;  and  the 
Halfway  Covenant,  204,  210;  and  Antino- 
mianism,  206;  decline,  208;  opposition, 
208  ;  effect,  210. 

Griffin,  La  Salle's  schooner,  built,  115;  loss, 
116. 

Groseilliers,  Sieur  des,  explorations  in  the 
West,  93. 

Guercheville,  Antoinette,  Marchioness  de,  and 
the  Jesuits,  66;    portrait  of,  69;  grant,  70. 

Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  alleged  discovery,  4 ; 
Fagundes's  exploration,  6;    Cartier  in,   11, 


Haldimand,  Frederick,    English   colonel,    re- 


INDEX 


333 


stores  and  defends  Oswego,  311;  manu- 
scripts, 312  n  ;  portrait  of,  313. 

Hale,  Sir  Matthew,  English  jurist,  belief  in 
witchcraft,  126,  128 ;  portrait  of,  127 ;  A 
Modest  Enquiry,  facsimile  title  of,  167. 

Hale,  Mrs.,  of  Beverly,  accused  of  witchcraft, 

,6c>- 

Half-King,  Indian  chief  on  the  Ohio,  unstable 
friendship,  244;  warns  Washington,  248;  at 
Fort  Necessity,  249. 

Halfway  Covenant,  183  ;  outgrowth,  201 ;  ef- 
fect of  the  Great  Awakening,  204,  210. 

Hallucinations,  psychology,  176. 

Harvard  College,  Increase  Mather  non-resi- 
dent president,  185,  190;  liberalism,  85,  190, 
194,  196,  199  ;  question  of  the  charter,  188, 
192 ;  question  of  religious  test  for  its  officers, 
190 ;  Mather  displaced  and  Willard  made 
head,  190;  Leverett  president,  192;  con- 
demns Whitefield,  208 ;  Louisburg  cross, 
233- 

Hathorne,    John,    judge    of    Salem    witches, 

»55- 

Hebert,  Louis,  first  farm  at  Quebec,  82. 

Hendrick,  Mohawk  chief,  at  Lake  George, 
270  ;  killed,  271. 

Hennepin,  Louis,  character,  115  ;  false  claims, 
116;  with  La  Salle,  116;  sketches  Niagara 
Falls,  116. 

Henry  of  Portugal,  Prince,  portrait,  2. 

Henry  IV.  of  France,  portrait  of,  33  ;  grants 
monopoly  in  fur-trade,  32,  33,  54  ;  grant  to 
Monts,  44 ;  favours  Champlain's  scheme, 
54  ;  murdered,  65 ;  results  of  abandoning 
his  policy,  66. 

Hiawatha,  Onondaga  chief,  conceives  Iroquois 
confederacy,  42. 

Hibbins,  Ann,  execution  for  witchcraft,  facsim- 
ile of  Verdict  and  Death  Warrant,  132-134. 

Hobbs,  Deliverance,  confesses  to  witchcraft, 

'59- 

Hochelasra  (Montreal),  Gastaldi's  plan  of,  14; 
Cartier's  visit,  14-16  ;  typical  Iroquois  town, 
15;  destroyed,  36.     See  also  Montreal. 

Holyoke,  Edward,  president  of  Harvard,  con- 
demns Whitefield    208;  signature  of,  210. 

How,  Elizabeth,  executed  for  witchcraft,  153. 

Howe,  George,  Viscount,  English  general, 
Abercrombie's  lieutenant,  286 ;  ancestry, 
286;  military  insight,  287;  death,  288;  ef- 
fect of  his  death,  289,  295;  monument,  289. 

Howe,  Richard,  Lord,  portrait  of,  255; 
intercepts  French  troops,  256;  autograph 
and  seal,  256  ;  ancestry,  286. 

Howe,  Sir  William,  ancestry,  286;  facsimile 
letter  of,  290 ;  at  Quebec,  322 ;  portrait  of, 
322. 

Hudson  Bay  and  Vignau's  story,  77. 

Hudson  River,  Verrazano  enters,  9,  24:  Al- 
lefonsce  explores,  22  ;  belief  in  its  union 
with  the  St.  Lawrence,  24  ;  early  French 
fur-trade,  24. 

Huguenots,  attempted  colonies,  29;  not  al- 
lowed in  Canada,  83. 

Huron  Indians,  kin  to  the  Five  Nations,  42; 
location,  43  ;  refuse  to  join  the  confederacy, 
43  ;  consequent  annihilation,  43,  93  ;  allied 
with  Algonquins,  43,  58;  friendship  neces- 
sary to  the  French,  57,  58 ;  and  Champlain 
attack  an  Iroquois  village,  79-S2  ;  remnants 
in  Ohio  valley,  238. 

Illinois,  Algonquin  Indians,  Nicollet  en- 
counters, 92  ,   Iroquois  invade,  119  238. 


Indians,  facetiousness,  19,  60;  migrations, 
39;  pestilence  in  Massachusetts,  48;  French 
policy,  57,  59,  63,  64,  97,  217  ;  consulting  of 
tutelary  spirits,  60;  warfare,  61-63,  2^3 » 
missions,  79,  82,  86,  95  ;  Northwest  tribes, 
92,  99 ;  and  Frontenac,  105 ;  idea  of  land 
selling,  216;  both  French  and  English  in- 
cite Indian  raids,  217-219;  destruction  of 
Maine,  221,  222;  bounty  for  their  scalps, 
222  ;  Lovewell's  fight,  222-225  ;  decline  of 
French  influence,  236-242 ;  Ohio  valley 
tribes,  238;  vacillation,  243;  as  French  al- 
lies, 261,  270,  273,  278,  280,  282-284,  306, 
312;  as  English  allies,  269,  271,  309;  con- 
vention of  chiefs  at  Easton,  308.  See  also 
Algonquin,  Huron,  Iroquois. 

Innocent  VIII.,  pope,  bull  against  witch- 
craft, 129. 

Intendant  of  Canada,  duties,  94. 

Iroquois  Indians,  at  Hochelaga,  15;  driven 
from  the  St.  Lawrence  by  Algonquins,  36- 
40  ;  settlement  in  New  York,  40  ;  tribes,  40  ; 
advantages  of  situation,  41  ;  confederacy, 
42  ;  origin  of  the  five  tribes,  42  ;  destruction 
of  outlying  tribes,  42-44,  93  :  first  fight  with 
Frenchmen,  61,  62;  results,  62,64;  defeat 
at  Lake  Champlain,  (from  Champlain's 
I  'oyages),  63  ;  second  defeat  by  the  French, 
74  ;  Champlain  attacks  a  village,  79-82 ; 
view  of  Iroquois  Village  and  Champlain 
Tower,  80;  destroy  the  Hurons,  93;  Cour- 
celles'  invasion,  94  ;  effect,  96 ;  friendship 
for  the  English,  96;  temporary  French  in- 
fluence, 236 ;  power  in  the  Ohio  valley.  238  ; 
and  the  Albany  Congress,  252  ;  with  John- 
son's army,  269 ;  attitude  in  French  and 
Indian  War,  308. 

Jacobs,  George,  executed  for  witchcraft,  153  ; 
the  Jacobs  House,  153. 

James  I.  of  England,  Damonologie,  130. 

Japan,  St.  Francis  Xavier  in,  66. 

Jervis,  John,  portrait  of,  320. 

Jesuits,  growth  and  power,  65  ;  spirit  of  pro- 
paganda, 66,92  ;  at  Port  Royal,  70;  with  La 
Saussaye  at  Mount  Desert,  71  ;  treatment 
by  Argall  and  Dale,  72,  74;  supreme  in  Can- 
ada, 92. 

Jogues,  Isaac,  Jesuit  missionary,  at  outlet  of 
Lake  Superior,  92  ;  portrait  of,  93. 

Johnson,  William,  influence  over  the  Iroquois, 
237;  selected  to  attack  Crown  Point,  266, 
268;  character  of  his  army,  268;  advance, 
269;  scouts  ambushed,  271;  defeats  Dies- 
kau.  271  ;  made  a  baronet,  271  ;  photograv- 
ure portrait,  (facing)  272  ;  fails  to  pursue  the 
French,  272  ;  second  in  command  against 
Fort  Niagara,  311;  takes  command,  312; 
defeats  relief  force,  312;  captures  the  fort, 


folie 


Joliet,  Louis,  education,  103,  106;  explora- 
tion for  copper  mines,  104 ;  sent  to  find  the 
Mississippi,  104,  105 ;  on  the  Mississippi, 
106-108  ;  autograph  of,  106  ;  his  Map  of 
Neiv  France,  106. 

Joncaire-Chabert  and  Washington  at  Venango, 
244,  246. 

Jones,  Margaret,  executed  for  witchcraft,  131. 

Jumonville,  Coulon  de,  surprised  and  killed 
by  Washington,  249 

Kennebec  River,  Maine,  Champlain  ascends, 
47;  importance  to  Canada,  214;  Indians, 
214;  Shute's  conference  with  the  l.ndians, 


334 


INDEX 


217  ;    Indians   attack    English   settlements, 

218  ;  French  control  destroyed,  221,  222. 
Kirke,  David,  attack  on  Quebec,  84,  85. 

La  Conversion,  Lescarbot's,  facsimile  title  of, 
67. 

La  Corne,  Saint-Luc  de,  French  partisan,  un- 
successful attack  on  Oswego,  312. 

La  Galissoniere,  Marquis  de,  governor  of 
Canada,  sends  expedition  to  claim  Ohio 
valley,  238. 

La  Salle,  Robert  Cavelier,  Sieur  de,  birth  and 
early  life,  101 ;  character,  101,  104,  112;  at 
La  Chine,  101 ;  portrait  of,  102  ;  expedition 
to  the  Ohio,  102-105 ;  on  the  Great  Lakes, 
104 ;  reputed  trip  to  the  Mississippi,  104  ; 
scheme  for  French  empire,  108-112,  120; 
opposition,  113,  115;  commands  and  re- 
builds Fort  Frontenac,  114;  builds  schooner 
Griffin,  115  ;  discomfitures,  116-118;  voyage 
to  head  of  Lake  Michigan,  116  ;  loss  of  the 
Griffin,  116;  builds  Fort  Crevecoeur,  116; 
overland  return  to  Montreal,  117;  and  the 
Crevecoeur  mutineers,  118;  goes  to  rescue 
Tonty,  118;  descends  the  Mississippi,  119; 
takes  possession  for  France,  1 19  ;  plan  for  a 
colony,  120;  death,  120;  development  of 
his  scheme,  234. 

La  Salle's  Discoveries,  An  Account  of, 
Tonty's,  facsimile  title  of,  no. 

La  Saussaye,  chief  of  Jesuit  colony,  at  Port 
Royal,  70;  attacked  by  Argall  at  Mount 
Desert,  70-72  ;  set  adrift  but  rescued,  72. 

La  Tour,  Charles  de,  succeeds  Biencourt  in 
Acadia,  86  ;  relations  with  England  and 
France,  87,  89;  contest  with  D'Aunay,  88: 
marries  D'Aunay's  widow,  89 ;  retires, 
89. 

La  Tour,  Claude  de,  father  of  Charles,  cap- 
tured and  enters  English  service,  86 ;  and 
his  son,  87. 

Lake  Champlain,  Champlain  crosses,  60; 
strategic  value,  296. 

Lake  George,  named,  269  ;  battle,  269-272  ; 
map  of,  282.    See  also  Fort  William  Henry. 

Lake  Huron,  discovery,  79. 

Lake  Michigan,  Nicollet's  explorations,  91. 

Lake  Ontario,  Champlain  crosses,  79. 

Lake  Superior,  Joguesat  outlet,  93  ;  explored, 

94- 

Lalemant,  Gabriel,  Jesuit  missionary,  Lettre, 
facsimile  title  of,  81  ;  arrives  in  Canada,  83. 

Land,  Indian  ideas  of  selling,  216. 

Langlade,  Charles  de,  French  trader,  de- 
stroys Miami  trading  village,  242  ;  at  Fort 
Duquesne,  260. 

Langy,  French  partisan,  encounter  with 
Howe's  scouting  party,  288. 

Lawson,  Deodat,  A  Brief  and  True  Narra- 
tive, facsimile  title,  151;  lecture  on  witch- 
craft, 152. 

Le  Caron,  Joseph,  Recollet  missionary, 
reaches  Lake  Huron,  79. 

Lee,  Charles,  with  Braddock,  261. 

Lery,  Baron  de,  attempted  colony  on  Sable 
Island,  6. 

Lescarbot,  Marc,  in  Acadia  with  Monts,  45  ; 
as  an  author,  45  ;  Map  of  New  France,  46; 
pageant  for  Poutrincourt,  48 ;  La  Conver- 
sion, facsimile  title  of,  67. 

Lettre  Missive.  Bertrand's,  facsimile  title  of, 
68. 

Leverett,  John,  liberal  views,  185  ;  president 
of  Harvard,  192  ;  autograph  of,  192. 


Lewis,  Mercy,  and  the  Salem  witchcraft,  192. 
See  also  Salem  Village. 

Ligneris,  French  partisan,  attempt  to  relieve 
Fort  Niagara,  312. 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  on  Cotton  Mather's  con- 
nection with  the  Salem  witchcraft,  137,  173. 

Loudoun,  Earl  of,  English  commander-in-chief 
in  America,  276 ;  character,  276 ;  plans  to 
attack  Ticonderoga,  277;  portrait  of,  277; 
facsimile  letter  of,  279;  futile  expedition 
against  Louisburg,  280;  recalled,  284. 

Louis  XIV.  of  France,  portrait  of,  59;  and 
Canada,  94;  pardons  witches,  121. 

Louisburg,  Cape  Breton  Island,  fortified,  225; 
colonial  project  to  capture  in  war  of  the 
Austrian  Succession,  226;  attacking  mili- 
tary force,  227 ;  attacking  naval  force,  228, 
232  ;  progress  of  the  attack,  228-233 ;  map 
of,  232;  surrender,  233;  cross  from,  233; 
Loudoun's  expedition  against,  in  French 
and  Indian  War,  280  ;  strategic  value,  296; 
restored  to  France  by  treaty  of  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,  297 ;  situation  and  defences,  297 ; 
English  expedition  against,  in  1758,  298 ; 
landing  effected,  298  ;  reduction  of  outer 
works,  299;  bombardment,  300;  French 
fleet  destroyed,  300 ;  surrender,  300 ;  view 
of,  during  siege  1758,  300. 

Louisiana,  possession  taken  for  France,  119; 
La  Salle's  attempted  colony,  120  ;  develop- 
ment, 234.  See  also  Canada,  Mississippi 
River. 

Lovewell,  John,  Massachusetts  captain,  auto- 
graph of,  222  ;  fight  with  the  Indians,  222- 
225  ;  death,  225  ;  ballad  on  the  fight,  225. 

Lovewell  Lamented,  Symme's,  facsimile  title 
of,  233. 

Luiz,  Lazaro,  map,  6. 

Lyman,  Phineas,  Connecticut  general,  auto- 
graph of,  268;  Johnson's  lieutenant,  268; 
credit  for  battle  at  Lake  George,  271. 

Maggiolo,  Vesconte,  map,  9. 

Maine,  advance  of  settlement,  216.  See  also 
Kennebec  River. 

Malleus  Maleficarum,  129. 

Maria  Theresa,  queen  of  Hungary,  and  the 
Seven  Years'  War,  273. 

Marie  de  Medicis,  widow  of  Henry  IV.,  and 
the  Jesuits,  66. 

Marin,  French  officer,  expedition  to  the  Ohio 
valley,  243. 

Marin,  French  partisan,  attempt  to  relieve 
Fort  Niagara,  312. 

Marquette,  Jacques,  Jesuit  missionary,  charac- 
ter, 106  ;  facsimile  handwriting,  107  ;  photo- 
gravure portrait,  108  ;  on  the  Mississippi, 
107,  108  ;  death,  108. 

Martin,  Susannah,  executed  for  witchcraft, 
'53- 

Mascoutins,  Algonquin  Indians  on  Lake 
Michigan,  92. 

Massachusetts,  early  witchcraft  trials,  131- 
135  ;  change  in  character  of  General  Court 
under  new  charter,  169;  opposition  to  the 
theocracy,  181,  184  ;  Halfway  Covenant, 
183;  Andros's  rule,  184;  new  charter,  184; 
liberalism  compared  with  Connecticut,  193- 
196,  200 ;  conflicts  between  governor  and 
Assembly,  220,  221  ;  expedition  against 
Kennebec  Indians,  221;  bounty  for  Indian 
scalps,  222  ;  share  in  the  Louisburg  expedi- 
tion, 227;  monument  to  George,  Viscount 
Howe,   289;  troops  for  campaign  of   1759, 


INDEX 


335 


310.     See    a/w  ■  Great    Awakening,    Salem 
Village. 
Masse,   Enemond,  Jesuit  missionary,  arrives 
in  Canada,  83. 

Mather,  Cotton,  attainments,  135 :  character, 
135  ;  photogravure  portrait  of,  (facing)  136; 
and  the  Salem  witchcraft,  135-139,  140,  156, 
158,  169,  181 ;  Memorable  Providences,  fac- 
simile title,  139:  Wonders  0/  the  Invisible 
World,  facsimile  title,  172  ;  connection  with 
the  Goodwin  witchcraft  case,  137,  140;  re- 
ligious conservatism,  181,  187,  188;  and 
Harvard  College,  191. 

Mather,  Increase,  Cases  of  Conscience,  170; 
religfous  conservatism,  181,  188;  effort  to 
obtain  a  charter  for  Massachusetts,  184 ; 
non-resident  president  of  Harvard,  185,  190; 
displaced,  191. 

Menard,  Rene,  Jesuit  missionary,  explores 
Lake  Superior,  94. 

Mercceur,  Duke  de,  and  Roche,  31. 

Mexico,  Champlain  in,  35. 

Miamis,  Algonquin  Indians  in  Ohio  valley, 
238 ;  Celoron  among,  240 ;  English  in- 
fluence. 242  ;  French  attack,  242. 

Mingos,  Iroquois  Indians  in  Ohio  valley,  238; 
English  allies,  309. 

Missions  to  the  Indians,  French,  Recollets 
arrive,  79 ;  Jesuits  arrive,  83 ;  paramount 
interest,  86 ;  extent,  96. 

Mississippi  River,  Nicollet  unwittingly  hears 
of,  92  ;  Allouez  hears  of,  98 ;  question  of  its 
mouth,  99,  102,  108;  La  Salle's  reputed 
trip,  104 ;  Marquette  and  Joliet  on,  106- 
108  ;  La  Salle  descends,  119. 

Missouri  River,  Joliet  and  Marquette  dis- 
cover, 107. 

Modest  Enquiry,  A,  Hale's,  facsimile  title  of, 
167. 

Mohawks,  Iroquois  Indians,  meaning  of 
name,  40;  segregated  from  the  Onondagas, 
42.     See  also  Iroquois. 

Monckton,  Robert,  English  colonel,  to  attack 
the  French  from  Acadia,  266;  portrait  of, 
266  :  facsimile  letter  of,  267. 

Monopoly  in  Canada,  fur-trade,  32-34,  44,  51, 
53  ;  general  commercial,  83. 

Monro,  English  colonel,  defends  Fort  William 
Henry,  281 ;  surrenders,  382. 

Montagnais,  name  for  the  Adirondacks,  58. 

Montcalm,  Louis  Joseph,  Marquis  de,  French 
commander-in-chief  in  America,  274  ;  char- 
acter, 274;  voyage  to  America,  274;  and 
Vaudreuil,  275 ;  captures  Ossvego,  278 ;  ex- 
pedition against  Fort  William  Henry,  280- 
282;  siege  and  surrender  of  the  fort,  281; 
unable  to  prevent  a  massacre,  282-284;  de- 
fences at  Ticonderoga,  290;  repulses  Aber- 
crombie's  attack,  294  ;  view  of  headquarters, 
315;  defence  of  Quebec,  316;  battle  of 
Plains  of  Abraham,  323;  mortally  wounded, 
326  ;  portrait  of,  324. 

Montmorency,  Duke  of,  sells  vice-royalty,  83. 

Montreal,  named,  18  :  founded,  76;  captured, 
326.     See  also  Hochelaga. 

Monts,  Pierre  du  Guast,  Sieur  de,  monopoly 
of  fur-trade,  32  ;  Commissions,  facsimile 
title  of,  38  :  grant,  43  ;  voyage  to  Acadia, 
44;  monopoly  withdrawn,  52;  temporary 
renewal  of  monopoly,  54;  governor  of  Pons, 
76  ;  gives  up  Canadian  affairs,  76.  See  also 
Acadia,  Port  Royal. 

Mount  Desert,  Maine,  discovered,  46;  La 
Saussaye  and  Argall  at,  71,  72. 


Nausett  Island,  submerged,  48. 
New  England,  Champlain  on  the  coast,  45- 
49  ;  conquers  Acadia,  89  ;  purpose  of  settle- 
ment, 96  ;  gloomy  outlook  in  1692,  140;  ad- 
vance of  settlement  in  Maine,  216;  Indian 
depredations,  218  ;  captures  Louisburg,  226- 
233.  See  also  colonies  by  name. 
New  France,  facsimile  map  of,  28.  See 
Canada,  Louisiana. 

New  Hampshire,  share  in  Louisburg  expe- 
dition, 227 ;  troops  for  campaign  of  1759, 
310. 

New  Haven  annexed  to  Connecticut,  193  n. 

New  Jersey,  troops  for  campaign  of  1759,  310. 

New  Orleans,  battle  of,  and  Ticonderoga,  293. 

New  York,  troops  for  campaign  of  1759,  310. 
See  also  Iroquois. 

Newcastle,  Duke  of,  and  the  attack  on  Louis- 
burg, 230. 

Newfoundland,  question  of  pre-Cabotian  voy- 
ages, 3  ;  exploitation  of  the  fisheries,  4,  6, 
29. 

Niagara  Falls,  Champlain  hears  of,  53  ;  La 
Salle  hears,  103;   Hennepin  sketches,  116. 

Niagara  River.     See  Fort  Niagara. 

Nicollet,  Jean,  among  the  Indians,  91  ;  sent 
to  find  the  western  "great  water,"  92  ;  ex- 
plores Lake  Michigan,  91,  92  ;  hears  of  the 
Mississippi,  92. 

Normandy,  France,  race  characteristics,  1  ; 
mariners,  2;  early  interest  in  Newfound- 
land fisheries,  3  ;  objects  to  trade  monopoly 
in  Canada,  32,  51  :  condemnation  of  witches, 
121.     See  also  Dieppe. 

Norridgewock,  Maine,  village  of  Christianized 
Algonquin  Indians,  importance  of  location, 
214;  Dictionary  of  the  Abenaki  Lan- 
guage, Rale's  facsimile  title  of,  214;  Rale 
in,  124-216;  construction,  215;  inhabitants 
take  the  war  path,  21S  ;  stormed,  221 ;  tribe 
exterminated,  221. 

North  America  identified  with  Asia,  19  ;  map 
of,  216. 

Northampton,  Mass.,  development  of  Half- 
way Covenant  in  church  at,  201  ;  beginning 
of  Great  Awakening,  204 ;  church  quarrel 
with  Edwards,  210. 

Northwest,  route  used  by  the  French,  96  ;  In- 
dian conditions  in  1670, 97-99 ;  France  takes 
possession,  99-101. 

Northwest  passage,  why  sought,  8  ;  Verrazano 
seeks,  8;  Cartier  seeks,  12. 

Norton,  John,  autograph  of,  134. 

Norumbega,  location,  22,  24;  Allefonsce  at, 
22  ;   Penobscot  River  so  called,  46. 

Nova  Scotia.     See  Acadia. 

Noyes,  Nicholas,  and  the  Salem  witches,  165 . 

Nurse,  Rebecca,  accused  of  witchcraft,  150; 
judges  force  conviction,  158;  house  at 
Salem,  159. 

Ohio  River,  La  Salle  hears  of,  102  ;  La  Salle's 
expedition,  102-105. 
See  also  next  title. 

Ohio  valley,  beginnings  of  English  occupa- 
tion, 235,  238;  effect  on  the  French,  236; 
Indians,  238;  power  of  the  Iroquois,  238  ; 
French  influence  over  the  Indians,  238,  240, 
243  ;  French  possession  asserted,  238-242  ; 
Duquesne  sends  expedition  to  control,  243  ; 
Washington's  mission,  244,  246;  Fort  Du- 
quesne built,  247 ;  failure  of  Washington's 
expedition,  247-2^0;  effect  of  Fort  Du- 
quesne  on  English  prestige,    250;   English 


336 


INDEX 


gain  control,  265,  308.  See  also  Fort  Du- 
quesne. 

Ojibways,  Algonquin  Indians,  location,  92  ; 
French  friendship,  97. 

Old   Britain.     See  Demoiselle. 

Old  South  Church,  Boston,  founded,  183. 

One  Hundred  Associates,  privileges  and  du- 
ties, 83;  first  expedition  captured  by  Eng- 
lish, 84. 

Oneidas,  Iroquois  Indians,  meaning  of  name, 
40 ;  segregated  from  Mohawks,  42.  See 
also  Iroquois. 

Onondagas,  Iroquois  Indians,  meaning  of 
name,  40. 

Organizations,  tendency  to  rigidity,  194. 

Osburn,  Sarah,  accused  of  witchcraft,  146. 

Oswego,  N.  Y.,  south  view  of,  237  ;  importance 
of  founding,  237 ;  captured  by  the  French, 
278  ;  destroyed,  278  ;  effect  of  capture,  279  ; 
rebuilt,  312;  successfully  defended,  312. 

Ottawas,  Algonquin  Indians  in  Canada,  58; 
war  party  with  Champlain,  59-62  ;  Cham- 
plain  among,  78  ;  driven  westward  by  the 
Iroquois,  99. 

Panama,  Champlain  suggests  a  canal  at,  36. 

Parliament,  Witch  Act,  130. 

Parris,  Elizabeth,  and  the  Salem  witchcraft, 
144.     See  also  Salem  Village. 

Parris,  Samuel,  minister  of  Salem  Village, 
142  ;  church  troubles,  142  ;  his  household 
and  the  beginnings  of  the  witchcraft  delu- 
sion, 142-146,  176. 

Pennsylvania,  western  claim,  242;  attitude  of 
the  Assembly  on  Fort  Duquesne,  251; 
troops  for  campaign  of  1759,  310. 

Penobscot  River,  Maine,  explored  by  Cham- 
plain, 46  ;  called  Norumbega,  46. 

Pepperell,  William,  autograph  of,  227;  com- 
mands the  attack  on  Louisburg,  227  ;  photo- 
gravure portrait  of  (facing),  230;  Demand 
for  the  Surrender  of  Louisburg,  facsimile 
title  of,  231 ;  created  a  baronet,  233. 

Pequawket  Indians,  Lovewell's  fight,  222-244. 

Philip  II.  of  Spain,  death,  31. 

Phips,  Sir  William,  autograph  of,  154;  gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts,  154,  185;  wife  ac- 
cused of  witchcraft,  168. 

Physical  science,  effect  on  belief  in  witchcraft, 
124. 

Pickawillany,  Ohio,  Miami  trading  village, 
Celoron  at,  242 ;  destroyed  by  the  French, 
242. 

Pitt,  William,  controls  war  affairs,  283  ;  char- 
acter, 283;  popularity,  284:  autograph  of, 
284 ;  policy  of  destruction  of  New  France, 
310. 

Pittsburg,  Penn.,  named,  309.  See  also  Fort 
Duquesne. 

Plan  of  'Federation,  Weare's,  facsimile  title  of, 

253- 
Pomeroy,  Benjamin,  punished  for  revivalism, 

210. 
Pomeroy,  Seth,  in  Johnson's  army,  269. 
Pontgrave  (Francois  Grave,  Sieur  du  Pont), 

monopoly   of    the    fur-trade,    31,    32;    and 

Champlain  in  Canada,  36,  54,  56. 
Pontiac.  Ottawa  chief,  at  Fort  Duquesne,  261. 
Poole,    W.    F.,    on    Cotton   Mather  and   the 

Salem  witchcraft,  137, 
Port  Royal  (Annapolis),  Acadia,  founded,  46; 

Lescarbot's  pageant,   50;    early  life  at,  50; 

fortress  at,  51  ;  gravestone  at,  52  ;   Poutrin- 

court  returns  to,    65;    Jesuits    arrive,    69; 


burned  by  Argall,  72  ;  rebuilt,  74  ;  Cham- 
plain's  Plan  of  Port  Royal,  75;  D'  Aunay 
controls,  88;  French  attack,  226.  See  also 
Acadia. 

Portugal,  voyages  to  northwest,  6,  8  ;  interest 
in  Newfoundland  fisheries,  6. 

Post,  C.  F.,  Moravian  missionary,  secures  In- 
dian alliance  for  the  English,  309. 

Pottawattamies,  Algonquin  Indians  on  Lake 
Michigan,  Allouez  meets,  92 ;  French 
friendship,  97  ;  Sulpicians  attempt  to  con- 
vert, 104. 

Pouchot,  M.,  French  captain,  defends  Fcrt 
Niagara,  312  ;  surrenders,  31.3. 

Poutrincourt,  Baron  de,  in  Acadia  with  Monts, 
45  ;  founds  Port  Royal,  46  ;  on  the  coast  of 
New  England,  48  ;  greeting  at  Port  Royal ; 
49;  returns  to  Port  Royal,  65;  and  the 
Jesuits,  69  ;  death,  74. 

Presbyterianism,  tendency  in  Connecticut, 
196-198. 

Presqu'Isle  (Erie),  Penn.,  French  block- 
house, 243. 

Prideaux,  John,  English  general,  expedition 
against  Fort  Niagara,  311 ;  killed,  312. 

Prince,  Thomas,  on  decline  of  the  Great 
Awakening,  208  ;  portrait  of,  209. 

Princeton  College,  Edwards  president,  212. 

Proctor,  John,  executed  for  witchcraft,  152, 
i53. 

Putnam,  Ann,  wife  of  Thomas,  and  the  Salem 
witchcraft,  144;  178.  See  also  Salem  Vil- 
lage. 

Putnam,  Ann,  daughter  of  Thomas,  and  the 
Salem  witchcraft,  144  ;  facsimile  of  Deposi- 
tion, 149  ;  confession,  173.  See  also  Salem 
Village. 

Putnam,  Israel,  in  Johnson's  army,  269  ;  in 
Abercrombie's  army,  288 ;  autograph  of, 
288;  rescued  from  the  stake,  301. 

Quebec,  meaning  of  the  name,  54;  founded, 
54;  treason  in,  56;  first  winter,  56;  fort 
and  buildings  at,  1608,  57;  early  conditions, 
82,  83  ;  attacked  by  the  English  in  1628,84  \ 
surrender,  84 ;  restored  to  France,  84  ;  un- 
successful expedition  against,  in  1690,  141; 
map  of  siege,  310  ;  view  of  land-place  above 
town,  316;  situation,  316;  position  of 
French  army  in  1759,  316;  problems  of 
attack,  317;  Wolfe  prepares  to  get  above, 
318-321;  bombardment,  319;  English  as- 
cend to  Plains  of  Abraham,  319;  view  of, 
320  ;  battle,  322-324  ;  fall,  325.  See  also 
Stadacona. 

Radisson,  Pierre  d'Esprit,  Sieur,  explorations, 

93- 

Rale,  Sebastian,  Jesuit  missionary,  at  Nor- 
ridgewock,  214-216.  Dictionary  of  the 
Abenaki  Language,  facsimile  title  of,  214; 
excites  attacks  on  English,  215;  controversy 
with  Baxter,  217;  killed,  221;  character, 
221. 

Ravaillac,  assassin  of  Henry  IV.,  65. 

Recollets  arrive  in  Canada,  79. 

Religion,  effect  of  rigid  organization,  194; 
condition  in  early  years  of  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, 200-202  ;  Edwards  on  conversion,  203; 
revivals,  203  ;  Great  Awakening  in  New 
England,  204-212.  See  also  Church  and 
State,  Congregationalism,  Missions. 

Remigio,  inquisitor,  execution  of  witches  by, 
129. 


INDEX 


337 


Renata,  Maria,  executed  for  witchcraft,  131. 

Rhode  Island,  share  in  the  Louisburg  expedi- 
tion, 227  ;  troops  for  the  campaign  of  1759, 
310. 

Ribaut,  Jean,  attempted  colony  in  Florida,  29. 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  measures  for  New 
France,  83. 

Roberval,  Jean  Francois,  Sieur  de,  his  New 
World  titles,  19,  24  ;  arrives  in  Canada,  20; 
divides  his  expedition,  21  ;  to  found  a 
colony,  26 ;  and  his  niece,  26 ;  character, 
26,  27  ;  failure  of  the  colony,  28  ;  death,  28. 

Roberval,  Marguerite,  niece  of  the  Sieur  de, 
romance,  26. 

Roche,  Marquis  de  la,  voyage  to  Canada,  31. 

Rogers,  Robert,  portrait  of,  289;  facsimile  of 
Journals,  291  ;  facsimile  letter  of,  292. 

Rogers,  Susanna,  verses  on  Frye,  225. 

Royal  Americans  in  Forbes's  army,  304. 

Sable  Island,  attempted  colony,  6. 

Saguenay  River,  Canada,  Roberval  explores, 
28. 

Saint  Francis  Xavier  in  Japan,  66. 

St.  Lawrence  River,  Aubert's  alleged  voyage, 
4;  Cartier  explores,  12  ;  impressiveness,  12  ; 
notion  of  union  with  the  Hudson,  24. 

St.  Louis  on  the  Illinois  River,  founded,  120. 

St.  Lusson,  Sieur  de,  takes  possession  of  the 
Northwest  for  France,  99-^101. 

St.  Malo,  Brittany,  opposition  to  fur-trade 
monopoly,  31.     See  also  Brittany. 

Saint-Pierre,  Legardeurde,  expedition  to  Ohio 
valley,  243  ;  with  Dieskau,  270;  killed,  271. 

Salem  Village  (Danvers),  Mass.,  Cotton 
Mather's  connection  with  the  witchcraft  de- 
lusion, 135-137,  140,  156-158, 170,  1S1  ;  bib- 
liography of  witchcraft,  13611.;  situation, 
141  ;  church  troubles,  141- 144  ;  beginnings 
of  the  witchcraft  troubles,  142-145  ;  persons 
accused,  146-154,  168;  malice  as  an  element 
in  the  accusations,  150,  152-155,  164-176, 
179;  special  court,  154;  recommendations 
of  the  ministers,  156-158;  convictions  on 
spectral  evidence,  158;  trials,  158-164;  exe- 
cutions, 164,  165,  170;  protestations  of  in- 
nocence, 164-167  ;  reaction,  166-169  »  special 
court  abolished,  169  ;  confessions  of  mis- 
carriage of  justice,  173;  explanation  of  the 
delusion,  173-179;  historical  importance  of 
the  troubles,  179;  reaction  on  the  clergy, 
181.     See  also  Witchcraft. 

Saybrook  Platform,  196-198 ;  facsimile  title 
of,  195. 

Schuyler  family,  influence  over  the  Iroquois, 
96,  237- 

Scotch-Irish  immigrants,  settlement,  235. 

Scotland,  witchcraft  trials,  129,  130. 

Secalart,  Paulin  de,  French  geographer,  and 
Allefonsce's  narrative,  22. 

Sedgwick,  Robert,  Massachusetts  major,  con- 
quers Acadia,  89 ;  facsimile  of  handwriting, 
89. 

Senecas,  Iroquois  Indians,  40;  Long  House 
of,  41  ;  segregated  from  the  Onondagas,  42; 
and  La  Salle's  expedition  to  the  Ohio,  102- 
104.     See  also  Iroquois. 

Seven  Years'  War,  beginning;  273.  See  also 
French  and  Indian  War. 

Sewall,  Samuel,  judge  of  Salem  witches,  156; 
public  acknowledgment  of  error,  173  :  por- 
trait of,  174;  on  Increase  Mather's  dis- 
placement from  the  presidency  of  Harvard, 
191. 


Shawnees,  Algonquin  Indians  in  Ohio  valley, 
238  ;   English  allies,  324. 

Sheldon,  Susannah,  and  the  Salem  witchcraft, 
144.     See  also  Salem  Village. 

Shirley,  William,  governor  of  Massachusetts, 
project  to  attack  Louisburg,  226 ;  photo- 
gravure portrait  of  (facing),  227;  Account 
of  the  Louisburg  Expedition,  facsimile 
title  of,  229;  and  his  Assembly,  251,  266; 
suggests  a  stamp  tax,  254 ;  part  in  the  first 
campaign,  266  ;  failure  of  expedition  against 
Fort  Niagara,  272 ;  superseded  as  com- 
mander-in-chief, 276 ;  commission  to  Tave- 
noc,  272. 

Shorte  and  Brief  Relation,  A ,  Cartier's,  fac- 
simile title  of,  13. 

Shute,  Samuel,  governor  of  Massachusetts, 
autograph  of,  217;  conference  with  the 
Maine  Indians,  217;  conflict  with  the  As- 
sembly, 220;  sails  suddenly  for  England, 
220. 

Soissons,  Charles,  Count  of,  viceroy  of  New 
France,  76. 

Soto,  Fernando  de,  explorations  unknown  to 
La  Salle,  111. 

South  Carolina,  troops  for  campaign  of  1759, 
310. 

Stadacona  (Quebec),  Cartier  at,  14  ;  jealous  of 
his  visit  to  Hochelaga,  14 ;  he  winters  at, 
18;  destroyed,  36. 

Stamp  tax,  reasons  for,  221,  248,  254. 

Stark,  John,  in  Johnson's  army,  269. 

Stoddard,  Solomon,  and  the  Halfway  Cove- 
nant, 201. 

Stoughton,  William,  judge  of  the  Salem 
witches,  155;  portrait  of,  155. 

Suffrage,  under  new  charter  of  Massachusetts, 
169,  184;  theocratic  restrictions  in  Massa- 
chusetts, 181  ;   Halfway  Covenant,  183. 

Sully,  Duke  of,  portrait  of,  53 ;  opposes 
Champlain's  scheme,  54. 

Sulpicians,  join  La  Salle's  expedition,  102- 
104. 

Susquehannocks,  kin  to  the  Five  Nations,  43  ; 
refuse  to  join  the  confederacy,  43 ;  conse- 
quent annihilation,  43. 

Sylvanus,  Bernadus,  Italian  cartographer, 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  in  his  edition  of 
Ptolemy,  4. 

Symme's  Lovewell  Lamented,  facsimile  title 
of,  223. 

Tac,  Sixte  le,  Recollet  missionary,  on  Alle- 
fonsce's voyage,  21. 

Tadousac,  Canada,  headquarters  of  Pont- 
grave's  monopoly,  32. 

Talon,  Jean  Baptiste,  intendant  of  Canada, 
policy,  94;  portrait  of,  95  ;  recalled,  105. 

Temple,  Sir  Thomas,  English  grant  of  Acadia, 

89-  . 

Tennent,  Gilbert,  revivalist,  206. 

Tessouat,  Ottawa  chief,  and  Champlain,  77. 

Theocracy.     See  Church  and  State. 

Thevenot's  Map  of  Marquette' 's  Discoveries, 
112. 

Thevet,  Andre,  portrait  of ,  25  ;  on  Roberval's 
adventures,  26. 

Ticonderoga,  N.  Y.,  meaning  of  name,  61 ; 
site  of  Champlain's  first  Indian  battle,  61, 
62  ;  Loudoun  plans  to  attack,  277 ;  Aber- 
crombie's  expedition  against,  286-290  ;  plan 
of,  287;  defences,  290;  possible  methods  of 
attack,  290 ;  and  battles  of  Bunker  Hill  and 
New   Orleans,   293;    assault    and    repulse, 


338 


INDEX 


294;  English  retreat,  295  ;  strategic  value, 
297;  Amherst's  expedition  against,  314; 
evacuated  by  the  French,  314. 

Tituba,  servant  of  Parris,  and  the  beginnings 
of  the  Salem  witchcraft,  144,  178;  facsimile 
of  Examination,  143 ;  accused  of  witch- 
craft, 146:  king's  evidence,  146,  147;  sold 
into  slaver}',  164. 

Tonty,  Henri  de,  La  Salle's  lieutenant,  115; 
Demieres  Decouvertes,  facsimile  title  of, 
109;  An  Accotmt  of  L,a  Salle's  Discover- 
ies, facsimile  title,  no;  autograph  of,  115; 
commands  Fort  Crevecceur,  116;  driven 
away  by  mutineers,  118;  reunion  with  La 
Salle,  119. 

Toryism  and  opposition  to  Massachusetts 
theocracy,  184. 

Tracy,  Marquis  de,  military  commander  in 
Canada,  94  ;  autograph  of,  94. 

Trade,  effect  of  rise  of,  on  religion,  201.  See 
also  Fur-trade. 

Treaties,  Saint  Germain-en-Laye,  84;  Utrecht, 
213  ;  Aix-la-Chapelle,  234. 

Turell's  The  Life  and  Character  of  Rev. 
Benjamin  Coliiian,  facsimile  title  ol,  189. 

Union,    Iroquois    confederacy,   41 ;    need    of 

colonial,  in  1754,  252;  Albany  Plan,  252. 
Unitarianism  as  a  gauge  of  liberalism,  193. 

Vaudreuil,  Philippe  de,  governor  of  Canada, 
policy,  217,  218. 

Vaudreuil,  Pierre  Francois,  Marquis  de,  au- 
tograph of,  254  ;  governor  of  Canada,  255  ; 
and  Montcalm,  275. 

Vaughan,  William,  autograph  of,  226;  project 
to  capture  Louisburg,  226 ;  occupies  the 
grand  battery  at  Louisburg,  230. 

Venango,  Penn.,  Washington  and  Joncaire  at, 
2  43-24  6. 

Ventadour,  Duke  of,  viceroy  of  New  France, 
83  ;  sends  Jesuits,  83. 

Verrazano,  Giovanni  da,  and  Aubert,  4;  auto- 
graph of,  7  :  captures  Spanish  treasure  ships, 
7;  purpose  of  his  voyage,  8;  course,  9; 
Verrazano  Sea,  9 ;  death,  10. 

Verrazano,  Girolamo,  map,  9. 

Verrazano  Sea,  origin  of  the  idea,  9  ;  on  maps, 
9  ;  influence,  9  ;  Allefonsce  seeks,  21. 

Vignau,  Nicolas  de,  story  of  adventures,  76 ; 
probable  basis  of  truth,  77  ;  sequel,  78. 

VHlegagnon,  Nicholas  de,  attempted  colony 
in  Brazil,  29. 

Villiers,  Coulon  de,  at  Fort  Necessity,  249. 

Virginia,  Assembly  impedes  Dinwiddie's  war 
measures,  247,  250 ;  troops  in  Braddock's 
expedition,  260;  troops  for  campaign  of 
!759>  3IQ-     See  also  Fort  Duquesne. 

Voyages,  pre-Cabotian,  to  Newfoundland 
fisheries,  3  ;  alleged,  of  Denys  and  Aubert, 
4-6;  of  Fagundes,  6;  Verrazano's,  8-10; 
Cartier's,  10-21,  27:  Allefonsce's,  20-26; 
Roche's,  31  ;  Champlain's,  36,  45-48. 

Voyages,  Allefonsce's,  fagpimiie  title  of.  23. 

Vumenot,  Maugis,  on  Allefonsce's  voyage,  22. 

Walcott,  Mary,  and  the  Salem  witchcraft,  144. 
See  also  Salem  Village. 

Warfare,  character  of  border,  218;  Indian, 
257  ;  former  popularity  of  convergent  move- 
ments, 310. 


Warren,  Mary,  and  the  Salem  witchcraft,  144. 
See  also  Salem  Village. 

Warren,  Peter,  English  commodore,  and  the 
attack  on  Louisburg,  228,  233  ;  autograph 
of,  228. 

Washington,  George,  mission  to  the  French 
in  Ohio  valley,  244 ;  autograph  surveys  of, 
facsimile,  244;  journal,  facsimile  title,  245  ; 
driven  from  site  of  Fort  Duquesne,  246 ;  ad- 
vance against  Fort  Duquesne,  246  ;  surprises 
Jumonville,  248;  question  of  perfidy,  248; 
at  Fort  Necessity,  249 ;  surrender  and  re- 
treat, 250  ;  at  Braddock's  defeat,  264,  265  ; 
with  Forbes,  304. 

Weare,  Meshech,  Plan  of  Federation,  fac- 
simile title  of,  253. 

Webb,  Daniel,  English  general,  with  Lou- 
doun, 276  ;  tardy  reinforcement  for  Oswego, 
278  ;  at  Fort  Edward,  281. 

West  Indies,  Champlain  in,  35. 

Westbrook,  Thomas,  Massachusetts  colonel, 
expedition  against  Maine  Indians,  221  ;  au- 
tograph of,  221. 

Whitefield,  George,  revival  in  New  England, 
204 ;  portrait  of,  205 ;  second  visit  to  New 
England,  208  ;  motto  for  Louisburg  expedi- 
tion, 228. 

Wildes,  Sarah,  executed  for  witchcraft,  153. 

Willard,  John,  executed  for  witchcraft,  153, 

Willard,  Samuel,  accused  of  witchcraft,  168; 
autograph  of,  169  ;  non-resident  vice-presi- 
dent of  Harvard,  190  ;  becomes  head  of  the 
college,  191. 

Williams,  Abigail,  and  the  Salem  witchcraft, 
144.     See  also  Salem  Village. 

Winnebagoes,  Dacotah  Indians  on  Lake 
Michigan,  Nicollet  meets,  91. 

Winsor,  Justin,  on  Allefonsce's  voyage,  21. 

Winthrop,  John,  on  witchcraft,  131. 

Wisconsin  River,  Allouez  at  its  head,  98  ;  Jo- 
liet  and  Marquette  descend,  106. 

Witchcraft,  condemnation  for,  in  Normandy, 
121;  universal  belief  in,  121-125;  biblio- 
graphy, 123  n.,  137  n.  ;  rise  of  scepti- 
cism, 124  ;  specimen  English  trial,  126-128  ; 
epidemic  of  condemnations,  128-130,  187; 
papal  bull  against,  129;  text-book,  129; 
James  I.'s  treatise,  130  ;  Witch  Act  in  Eng- 
land, 130;  trials  in  England,  130;  last 
trials,  130 ;  comparatively  few  cases  in 
America,  131;  early  trials  in  Massachu- 
setts, 131-135  ;  the  Goodwin  case,  135,  137- 
140  ;  order  to  arrest  parties  charged  with, 
facsimile  of,  146.     See  also  Salem  Village. 

Witches,  A   Tryalof,  facsimile  title,  125. 

Wolcott,  Roger,  autograph  of,  228. 

Wolfe,  James,  English  general,  (portrait, 
frontispiece)  arrives  in  America,  285 :  effects 
a  landing  at  Louisburg,  298  ;  credit  for  cap- 
ture of  Louisburg,  301 ;  sent  againsi  Quebec, 
311;  problems,  317  ;  illness,  318;  project  to 
get  above  the  city,  318;  preparations,  319; 
ascent  to  Plains  of  Abraham,  322;  battle, 
324;  portrait  of,  323  ;  death,  324. 

Wyandottes,  Huron  Indians  in  Ohio  valley, 
238. 

Yale.  Elihu,  endows  Yale  College,  199;  por- 
trait of,  199;  facsimile  letter  of,  200. 

Yale  College,  conservatism,  194,  198;  founded. 
198. 


Electrotyped  and  printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Co. 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 


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